Exile's Journey
by Tirade
Summary: Ahsoka Tano has been wandering the galaxy, trying to find her purpose in life after leaving the Jedi. The story begins on the day of Order 66, the last day of the Jedi Order and the first day of the Empire. A couple OCs, but the story focuses on Ahsoka and what she will do after Order 66. Includes minor EU characters like Ylenic It'kla and references to old ones, like Darth Revan.
1. Chapter 1 - Peace

Star Wars: Exile's Journey

Ahsoka Tano, during nearly a year of exile from the Jedi Order, has lead a mundane life. Befriending a Corellian trader named Jyssa Motla, she has spent the last several months as a mechanic and copilot.

While on a trip to Rhen Var, the two found an injured clone soldier who had been left behind. The soldier, named Arc, had lost an arm and received serious shrapnel injuries to one side of his face. Out of contact with any Republic authorities, the two have spent the last few days trying to nurse the injured clone back to health.

Jyssa's ship, the Red Drexl, has been hired to transport a group of archeology students to Dantooine, where they are excavating an ancient Jedi enclave...

**Chapter 1**

_Peace_

The young woman sat cross legged on the smooth surface of an ancient, weather worn blba tree. Despite the constant hacking sounds of shovels and pounding of picks nearby, she sunk deeper into placid meditation.

She remembered the words of a tiny green teacher, one who seemed to stand so tall and yet was her height ten years ago when she first heard him say the words, "At peace, you must be. Centered. When open you are to yourself, open you will be to the Force."

This place seemed to have a calming effect. Ahsoka felt herself sink further into a state of tranquility. The Force had once been strong in this place. The worn remains of stone meditation benches encircled the tree she sat in. Hundreds of Jedi had once sat in this garden while it flourished. Hundreds of Jedi lived in this enclave when it flourished. But four thousand years ago the Jedi Order was torn apart by war. The enclave was destroyed, and abandoned. It was no wonder that Ahsoka Tano felt drawn to this place.

"Grife, I don't know how you can meditate with all that noise." The voice below was throaty, most likely caused by the smoke that Ahsoka could smell curling up through the dead blba branches. "Must be a Jedi thing."

Ahsoka's eyes stayed closed. "I'm not a Jedi anymore."

Below her, leaning against the thick trunk of the blba, Jyssa snorted, "You're sitting in the middle of an ancient meditation room in an old Jedi enclave. Meditating. I'm pretty sure you're still a Jedi."

Ahsoka uncrossed her legs and hopped down from the tree. She landed with catlike grace next to the Corellian smuggler. "I left the order almost a year ago. I haven't been a Jedi for a long time."

Jyssa shook her head, her short curly hair bobbing with the movement. "Look, kid, I know you look up to the Jedi. It was your life. But right now the Jedi are fighting a war, and they've got themselves a nice shiny slave army doing the fighting and dying for them. You're here looking for peace and knowledge. You didn't leave the Jedi. The Jedi left you."

"Don't pretend that you know anything about the Jedi." Ahsoka stood up to her full height, her eyes on level with Jyssa's shoulders. Ahsoka's hornlike montrals made her look a little taller, but not by much. "The Jedi are trying to defend the peace."

"Yeah, well we've got about ninety percent of a clone trooper recuperating in my ship's medbay. The Jedi didn't do a very good job of protecting his pieces. What's left of his hand is scattered all over the snow of Rhen Var. And last time I checked, he didn't enlist in this war. Neither did you."

The young Togruta's shoulders slumped, and her posture wilted. "Yeah, well, we're both out of it now."

Without warning, Ahsoka's knees buckled. "I've got you!" Jyssa tried to wrap her arms around Ahsoka. Despite the size disparity between the two, the young Togruta's body had gone limp and Jyssa couldn't hold her up. "Spast! I don't got you!"

Ahsoka fell to the ground, "Master Fisto! No!"

"Ahsoka, what's wrong?"

"Master!"

Jyssa shook her prone companion, "Ahsoka! What's wrong?"

Ahsoka's eyes rolled in the back of her head. She could feel the surge of fear and anger. And she saw, from her Jedi master's eyes, the sight of Mace Windu, falling to his death. The Jedi master who could shatter anything lay on the ground, broken.

She could feel it. Master Windu was the master of the shatterpoint. He could instinctively see where a single well placed strike could destroy everything. And now Master Windu was that shatterpoint. The lines that connected the entire Jedi Order spread out before Ahsoka's sight. The death of Mace Windu started a chain reaction that rippled through time and space. In a moment, she felt the loss of the entire Jedi Order. And the loss of the Republic itself.

It was too much. Ahsoka's eyes rolled back, and she went limp.

* * *

"Hey kid, you awake?"

Her thoughts were sluggish. "We have to warn them..."

"Warn who?" Ahsoka's eyes focused on the speaker. Arc was sitting up in his bunk. That must mean that she was in the med bay of Jyssa's Tolos class freighter, the Red Drexl.

"The Jedi are in danger! We have to warn them!"

Arc shook his head, "Sorry, kid. It's a little late for that."

"What?"

"It's all over the holonet. Even out here on Dantooine. The Jedi tried to oust the Chancellor by force. So the Chancellor called for Order 66."

"Order 66?" Ahsoka knew she should be able to respond with more than repetition, but her mind was still fuzzy from the overload it had just experienced.

"Every trooper has to memorize a bunch of emergency orders. The higher numbers are what to do if there's a rogue element within our own command structure. 65 is if the Chancellor turns against us. If the Senate calls for order 65, we remove the Chancellor by force." Arc looked away from Ahsoka. Despite her mental overload, she could feel a hint of shame through the force. "Order 66 is what we do if the Jedi go bad. A politician can be removed from office. Arrested. But Jedi... well. Jedi can't really be contained."

Ahsoka closed her eyes and reached into the Force. Ever since she was strong enough in the Force to reach out with her senses, the galaxy had been full of stars. Points of light scattered across the night sky.

The last few years, the galaxy had been embroiled in war. Chaos swirled through it. The Jedi were spread thin, points of light in the Force spread out across the galaxy, just like the stars themselves.

And now... it was silent. Empty. The stars still burned. People still lived their lives. But the chaos was gone. And the twinkling points of light that were the Jedi were gone with it. A new order smothered the galaxy. A silent peace swept across the galaxy.

And in the med bay of a small freighter in the outer rim of the galaxy, a seventeen year old girl wept.


	2. Chapter 2 - Comfort

**Chapter 2**

_Comfort_

"I'm not sure which part was weirder. Me comforting a teenage girl half my size with my one good arm, or the fact that halfway through her attempt to wash my shirt with her face I realized that she's actually four years older than I am. And a year ago she would have been my commanding officer."

Arc looked like any other trooper, if you ignored his unkempt hair, the bandages covering the right side of his face and the stump of a right arm. He sounded like one too, except that he was missing the typical Concord Dawn lilt to his voice. Arc, or as he was once known, TG-427, had been part of a test batch. Instead of the usual flash training based on the teachings of Jango Fett, his group had been given a more diverse set of flash training. As a result, he had a much more neutral accent than most of his clone brothers.

And while his test scores for most aptitudes put him squarely in the middle of the pack, leaving the Kaminoans to decide that the experiment was not particularly a success, he did have one talent that moved him up the rank ladder. His sense of spatial judgment, especially in terms of objects in motion, was far superior to most clones. When given grenades, missiles, or any other weapon that shot in an arc in gravity, he was a perfect shot. After his first squad saw him effortlessly toss a single droid popper in a perfect arc over a wall, under a tree branch and into a ten centimeter gap in the armored topside of a droid tank, he earned the nickname Arc. This was long before he was offered the chance to become an ARC trooper.

Jyssa Motla took a drag from her last hand rolled Toydarian cigareme, then blew the smoke out slowly. "Yeah, well I think the weird part is that she went right back to meditating on top of that dead tree in the middle of the courtyard. There's an entire kriffing excavation team twenty yards away from her, trying to unearth the rest of this place. All of her old friends just got shot or put on the Empire's Most Wanted List. That whole Empire thing is kinda new too. And she goes right back to sitting in a tree and meditating. That's weird for you."

"Maybe I should go see this dead tree for myself. My wing may be clipped, but I can still walk. And I haven't seen the sun in a while."

"You need to find a walking stick. Your inner ear isn't working right, and you've got no depth perception."

Arc stood up, unsteadily, but he was on his feet. "I'll be fine."

"I dropped Ahsoka when she collapsed last time. I ain't even gonna try to grab you if you fall. You're way too heavy."

Arc grinned, and with half of his face scruffy and overgrown and the other half resembling ground nerf, it wasn't pretty. "Are you saying I'm getting fat?"

"Yes. Now get your fat rear in gear and go check on Ahsoka so I can enjoy my last cigareme in peace."

Arc gave a rough salute with his left arm. "Yes sir, captain sir."

He stumbled out the door, holding on to the door frame with his left arm. Jyssa shouted after him as he left, "None of this sir druk, soldierboy. My ship, my rules."

Jyssa heard a faint 'Yes sir, captain sir!' before the ship's hatch opened and Arc's uneven footsteps pattered on the ship's ramp.

"Grife, why do I put up with them?" She shook her head, and then took another drag on her cigareme. It could be a while before she could find another one. She was going to enjoy this one as much as she could.

* * *

It didn't take Arc long to hobble around the ancient ruins. He'd been around the galaxy in his short life. Felucia had been an explosion of colors, nothing like the plain white walls and dark, wet skies of Kamino. Geonosis was dry, red, and had astounding spires of rock. Kessel... well, from space Kessel looked like a tuber. On the ground... still looked like a tuber. A close up surface view of a giant tuber that was floating through space. And Ren Vhar was stunning, beautiful, white, and full of painful memories of a battle that lasted far too short for Arc, and took far too much from him.

The view around him on Dantooine was beautiful... but boring. Long grasses swayed in the breeze. The highest ridges and hills here were no more than ten meters higher than the rest of the plains. That was all he could see, other than the ships and the ruins. Long, rolling plains. A small herd of Iriaz played nearby. Arc followed the sounds of digging to the small group of archaeologists who were excavating the ruins.

"I'm looking for Ahsoka. My captain said she was near where you were digging."

A Bith wiped the dirt off his forehead and blurbled something at Arc in a language he didn't understand.

"Ahsoka?" Arc asked.

The Bith nodded and pointed to his right. He blurbled, "Ahsoka-Jedi."

"She's not a jedi. She left the order a year ago." Arc didn't know why he immediately went on the defensive. Maybe it was just a reflex. The Jedi were being hunted down. Even if the archaeologists had no intention of turning her in, the more people who knew her as a Jedi, the more dangerous things would be for her.

The Bith blurbled something unintelligible, and then turned back to the hole he'd been digging.

Arc followed the passageway that the Bith had indicated, and sure enough found his way to what had once been a peaceful garden. And, as Jyssa had said, Ahsoka sat at the top of the broadly built, but long dead blba tree. Meditating.

"Ahsoka?"

Her eyes flickered, but she didn't respond.

"Ahsoka, we're worried about you."

"I'm fine. I'm just trying to reach out. I've got to find someone."

"Who?"

"Anyone. I know there are still Jedi out there. I can feel them. But I can't connect to them. It's like something is blocking me. I have to find them!" Her shoulder slumped, and her posture sunk out of the relaxed but rigid posture that Arc had come to identify with Jedi meditation. "Why can't I find them?"

"Ahsoka, you can't save everyone. They're all Jedi. They'll find a way to survive. Right now you need to find a way to survive too."

Ahsoka slid out of the tree, showing no sign of the vital young woman that Arc had come to know since he had met her. She looked up at him. "You know what I'm going through."

Hearing those words put an icy spike through Arc's gut. The icy ground of Ren Vhar, turned red from the blood of his brothers. With a clenched jaw, he said, "Yes. I do."

"Maybe I didn't see it happen. But I could feel it. I could feel them die. All of them. Master Fisto. Master Windu. Mundi. Secura. Luminara. I felt them all die." Her eyes closed, mostly concealing the tears forming there. "I felt Master Plo Koon die. My oldest friend in the galaxy. Dead. I used to always be able to know that Master Skywalker was alive. I don't know what happened, but I can't feel him anymore. He's gone."


	3. Chapter 3 - Echoes

**Chapter 3**

_Echoes_

Arc found himself, once again, in the awkward position of trying to comfort Ahsoka with his one good arm. "This had better not become a habit, kid. I've only got a couple of shirts that fit over my bandages."

"Sorry, Arc." Ahsoka said, with her face still halfway buried in his somewhat damp shirt. "It just seems like I've been traveling so long and so far. And now everything I had hoped to find just got yanked out from under me. Everyone I know except for you two just... either died or disappeared."

"I know it's hard to hear it, but maybe it's time to move on. Find a new locale. This dig should only last another week. After they're done and we drop them back off at Rudrig, let's go somewhere completely different. You're not going to forget your troubles so quickly, but we can at least distract you until you get some mental distance from everything."

"Yeah, I'd be okay with that. But for now we're stuck here. With nothing to do but meditate."

"There's got to be something else to do around here."

Ahsoka tilted her head and looked back the direction that Arc had come from. "Actually, I think we may have found something."

"What is it?"

"I don't know," she said as she started walking that way, "But I think they found something and I think... I don't know how to explain it."

Arc followed her. "Explain what?"

"It feels like it's... for me."

Sure enough the Bith and an Alderaanian were carefully excavating a small, solid object out of the ground. As they brushed the dirt off of the small square shape, light glinted off of the exposed surfaces.

Ahsoka walked up to the two and squatted down next to their trench to be at eye level with them. "Do you mind if I help?"

"Be careful!" the Human said, "I don't know how delicate it is."

"If it's what I think it is... it's pretty sturdy. Still..." she held out her hand and closed her eyes, and it floated up out of the man's hand. The dust and dirt slowly sloughed off of it, falling back into the trench. The small cube glittered in the sunlight, and veins of a gold and silver ore streaked through it. "This is one of the oldest ones I've ever seen..."

The Bith blurbed a question, and the Alderaanian echoed him, "What is it?"

"It's a Jedi holocron. And I don't think it will be safe in your university. Not if the Chancellor is hunting down Jedi."

"Why would a piece of crystal be important to people hunting Jedi?"

Ahsoka smiled, "Jedi history isn't your forte, is it."

The man shook his head, "Sorry, this is just extra credit for me. I'm actually a Geology student."

She sat down next to the trench cross-legged, her back straight in the meditation pose that Arc recognized so well. The holocron floated over her lap, and she held it steady in the Force between her hands.

Light flickered inside the cube, and the figure of a Twi'lek came into existance, hovering in front of Ahsoka.

"Greetings, Apprentice. I am the Gatekeeper to this holocron. I am Jedi Master Zhar Lestin, and it seems that this repository of knowledge has been unused for a very long time."

"Master Lestin, it has been a long time. This Jedi Enclave has been abandoned for four thousand years. I am here with an archeology team who are looking for information about the Jedi order in your day."

Lestin crossed his ghostly arms. "But that is not what you seek, child."

"No, Master. I'm afraid the Jedi Order may have been destroyed."

"Yet here you sit, conversing with me."

"I'm just a Padawan. And I was expelled from the Order a year ago, for a crime I didn't commit."

"This holocron gives me a certain level of consciousness, and the ability to feel and judge the people who activate it. You may not be a Jedi Knight yet, but you are a Jedi." He smiled, his pointy teeth visible, albeit translucent. "You are young, impulsive, but strong in mind, morality, and the Force. The purpose of a Jedi holocron is to preserve knowledge and understanding of the Force. You say that the Jedi Order may have been destroyed?"

Ahsoka nodded, "Yes, Master. A civil war broke out, and the Republic split in two. The Jedi were tasked with protecting the Republic, and many of them became Generals in the war. Two days ago, the Chancellor claimed that he was attacked by the Jedi, and that they were trying to depose him by force. He has declared that all Jedi are enemies of the Republic, and he turned the entire Army of the Republic against them. Immediately afterwards, he declared himself the Emperor, and dissolved the Republic. I've been trying to meditate and reach out, to find other Jedi who may have survived. But I can't."

The glowing figure of Master Zhar Lestin nodded, "Of this, I am not surprised. We are still on Dantooine, are we not?"

A lump in Ahsoka's throat kept her from answering. Just saying it out loud hurt. She nodded in response.

"Dantooine was chosen as the site for a Jedi Enclave during a time of strife and war. First, the Mandalorians threatened the Republic. Then the Sith Empire rose up under my own pupil, Darth Revan. Dantooine was chosen not just because it was a peaceful place for meditation, but also because there is a lingering presence of the dark side of the Force nearby. Master Vandar discovered that the presence of a dark side wellspring helped mask those who practiced the light. However, it can make it difficult to get a sense of the rest of the galaxy."

"So you're saying that I'll need to leave Dantooine to find other Jedi."

"I suspect that is so. However, before you can find others like you, you must rediscover yourself."

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes, "I haven't changed since I was a Padawan. I know who I am."

Lestin showed his teeth again. "Then this should be a mere formality. But, in order to survive with an Emperor and an army against you, you will need a lightsaber."


	4. Chapter 4 - Enclave

**Chapter 4**

_Enclave_

Zhar Lestin's hologram said, "There is another reason why the Jedi created this enclave here on Dantooine. Nearby there is a cave. It may be collapsed over time, but I trust that the Force will guide you. In this cave you will find lightsaber crystals. If the Force is with you, you will find your lightsaber crystal."

"But I thought lightsaber crystals could only be found on Ilum?"

It had taken some work, but eventually Ahsoka convinced the archeologists to let her take the holocron with her, at least for now.

Master Zhar nodded, "We had thought so too, but the galaxy is full of surprises. Be careful, though. Like the caves of Ilum, the crystal caves here on Dantooine are strong in the Force. They will test you, both to see if you are worthy, and to force your true self to the surface. This is how you will find your lightsaber crystal."

"I've gone through the trial before." Ahsoka said, "And I returned to Ilum to help another group of Padawans see it through."

"Then hopefully this will be no difficulty for you." Ahsoka released her Force grip on the holocron, and the image of Master Zhar said, "Best of luck, young one." before shrinking back into the holocron.

Ahsoka walked out of her small bunkroom in the Red Drexl and prowled the hallways. Jyssa was nowhere to be found, but Arc was sitting on his bunk in the medbay, attempting to roll a large vial of something along his left hand.

"What are you doing?"

Arc replied, "Wishing I had a right hand so I could actually contact juggle this thing."

"What's contact juggling?"

Arc rolled the vial along his hand, yet when it reached the end of his fingers he flipped his hand over and it rolled down the back of his knuckles until it rested there. "It's when you've got a ball, or something about that size..."

"You mean like a thermal detonator."

"Yeah, if you're crazy you can contact juggle a thermal det. But yeah, you keep it in motion. Roll it along. Never lose contact. Hard to do when you're wearing gauntlets, but not impossible."

Ahsoka snorted, "So, which is easier to contact juggle: thermal dets or droid poppers."

Arc purposely put on a fake Concord Dawn accent and did his best imitation of a common GAR clone soldier, "Oh, definitely thermal dets. Spherical is a lot easier to contact juggle than cylindrical, and the baradium core adds a little more mass to it so it rolls smoother. But you didn't hear that from me, Commander."

Ahsoka laughed, and she realized that may have been the first time in the last two days, "At ease, soldier. I won't put you on report. Seriously, though, do you know where Jyssa is?"

"Haven't seen her in a bit. I think she went outside. She was getting a little stir-crazy, stuck here on the ground."

"I've got... well... I guess a mission to go on. I wanted to let her know I was going to be gone for a bit."

"I'll go with you." Arc stood up, much more steady on his feet than the last time Ahsoka saw him stand.

"I don't know if its a good idea. It's... kind of a Jedi thing."

"In that case, you need someone at your back. I've seen enough Jedi things to know how dangerous they are."

"Arc, I can't ask you to come with me."

"You don't have to, Ahsoka. I may be MIA, and you may not be a Commander anymore, but right now we're all we've got. I lost my brothers on Ren Vhar. You can't ask me to not have your back."

Ahsoka nodded, "In that case, maybe we should find you a blaster you can hold with your left hand."

"What kind of action are you expecting here on Dantooine?"

"I don't know. All I know is that it'll be a trial of some kind."

Arc kneeled down and pulled open a cabinet under his bed. What few possessions he had were in there. It only took a moment of rifling through for him to pull out a holster and a small pistol. "It's not much, but they gave it to me to use as a backup when I passed the ARC test. Small nuclear power cell inside, recharges the power pack over time and it draws gases in from the air to ionize and use as plasma, so it never needs more tibanna gas. Worth a small fortune, and only ARCs and Commandos get it."

"Wow. I can bet."

"Now for the embarrassing part."

"What's that?"

"I need your help flipping the holster around... and putting my belt on."

"Aww, Arc, you don't need to be embarrassed. Let me call Jyssa in so she can watch. Then you'll be embarrassed."

Arc tried to glare at her, but with only half his face showing much expression, it didn't really work. "You wouldn't dare."

"Don't worry, I left the Jedi order. That doesn't mean I turned to the dark side. Now hand me that holster, let me figure out how it's attached to the belt."

It took a bit of fiddling, but eventually Ahsoka figured out how to flip it around to the left side and make the holster face the other way. After she helped Arc put his belt on, he slipped the expensive pistol into the holster, and then practiced drawing with his left hand.

It was a little slower than drawing with his right, but that was to be expected. A lot of the clones learned how to be effectively ambidextrous, but that was one thing that was lacking in the specialized flash-training that Arc had recieved.

"I noticed your balance is a lot better. How's your inner ear?"

Arc sat down on the edge of his bed and started pulling his boots on with his left hand, "A lot better. I think the bacta plug really helped."

"In that case, you can catch up to me when you get your boots on. I'm going to go find Jyssa."

"Sure thing, Commander. I mean, Ahsoka. I still have to get used to that."


	5. Chapter 5 - The Crystal Caves

Previously on Star Wars: Exile's Journey

Ahsoka Tano, former Jedi Padawan, has just had the shock of her life. While she meditated in the peaceful ruins of an ancient Jedi enclave on Dantooine, she felt a great tragedy through the Force. Nearly every Jedi she had ever known, met, and even those she had never had a chance to meet, were killed at nearly the same instant.

The days of the Republic were over. The Empire rose out of its ashes. And the few Jedi who survived were being hunted down.

Meanwhile, a group of archeology students who had been traveling with Ahsoka discovered an ancient Jedi holocron in the ruins. The mental impression of an ancient Jedi Master, Zhar Lestin, advised Ahsoka to rebuild her lightsabers and take up the mantle of Jedi once more...

**Chapter 5**

_The Crystal Caves_

"Tell me again why we're helping her go on a Jedi 'thing' when Jedi are being hunted by the Imperial army?"

"Because she needs to do this. And we're her friends."

"Okay. But if you lose your other arm, don't come running to me."

The two followed Ahsoka through the tall grass. The young Togruta was walking along with her eyes half closed, reaching out with the Force for guidance. They were in a patch of particularly high grass, where it reached up to Jyssa and Arc's waist, and about level to Ahsoka's ribs.

"Whoa..." Ahsoka stopped and rubbed her forehead with one hand. "That's... not pleasant."

"What did you find?" Arc scanned the horizon with his left hand shading his eyes.

"I don't know, but I don't think it's what I'm looking for. Master Zhar said that there's a wellspring of dark side Force energy here on the planet. I think it's somewhere over there," she said as she pointed to a nearby ridge.

Jyssa said, "Well, that sounds pleasant. Might make for a good vacation spot. Wanna check it out?"

Ahsoka shivered, "Not really. I think I'll want a lightsaber first before I go anywhere near there." She continued on around the ridge, then closed her eyes again and reached out with her left hand, following some thread of the Force that neither of her companions could see.

"Look, kid, I know you're still a Jedi at heart... but..." Jyssa pursed her lips, trying to find the words, "Do you really think it's a good idea to carry around a lightsaber? I mean, it's not like it's illegal or anything. But the Jedi are being hunted down. And the one thing that lets everybody know that you're a Jedi is having a lightsaber on your belt."

Ahsoka turned around and grinned at her, something Jyssa hadn't seen in a while. "Good point. I'll keep it in a sling or a holster on my back."

"I'm just trying to look out for you, kid."

"I know, Jyssa. And I appreciate it. But I think this is something that I have to do. The Jedi Order may have fallen, but there's centuries of knowledge and an unlimited ability to do good that needs to continue to exist."

Ahsoka stopped for a moment to get her bearings in the Force, while Arc scanned the horizon again. Jyssa plucked up a tall, reedy plant and broke off the bottom of it. It wasn't a cigareme, but she'd found that this plant had a deposit of deliciously sweet sap in the bottom few centimeters, and it was chewy enough to distract her from her lack of cigaremes.

While she chewed, she wondered if it could be harvested and sold. Honeyroot maybe? Sweetreed? Branding might be a problem.

She was jarred out of her reverie by Ahsoka's voice, "It's this way! I can feel it! Actual adegan crystals... who would have thought?"

Ahsoka bolted, running far faster than the other two could keep up. Eventually she came to another ridge. She closed her eyes and held out her hand. "I can feel it... there's a cave right behind this rock scree..."

"Scree? Who talks like that, honestly? What kind of language classes did they teach you at the Jedi temple?" Jyssa said, around her honeyroot. She chewed down, then said, "Is that even a real word?"

Ahsoka ignored them, and held both hands out in front of her.

"Yes, it's a real word. It means a pile of loose rock, usually on the side of a mountain or cliff." Arc chimed in.

"Hrmph. Gotta show off that fancy flash learning, don't you."

With a grinding sound, the rocks started to move. One by one, they gently lifted up into the air to expose a cave entrance. Finally, the way was clear, and Ahsoka lowered her hands.

"... kriffing showoffs. All of you."

Ahsoka stepped into the cave entrance, and let her eyes start to adjust to the dark. It seemed to lead deeper into the ridge, but she couldn't see past the first bend. "I'm going to scout ahead, you two stay here."

* * *

"All I'm saying is that 'all of you' doesn't work when you're talking to two people."

"Zip it, soldierboy." She stopped chewing for a moment, then pulled out a small pistol, "Actually... really zip it. I think I heard something."

"It's just me," said Ahsoka, "and I found something up ahead. We might want to tell our archeologist friends about it. It might make up for me taking the holocron."

She lead the way down the passage, and two turns later they saw what looked to be an ancient campsite. A couple of durasteel reinforced shacks were rusting away in the back of the room, alongside what looked like it may have once been a power generator. A small bit of light worked its way into the room from above, and below the hole in the ceiling there was a depression that could have very well been a campfire a long time in the past.

"This is definitely the place. I haven't gone digging around for any Jedi artifacts, but I can sense it. Excitement. Fear. Confusion. Triumph. This is where the Padawans would come camp for the night when they went on their quest for lightsaber crystals. Even after all this time... the caves remember."

"Whatever, kid. I'm just here because you said there'd be gems."

Ahsoka held up a glow rod. "The exit to the room is over this way. I think it leads to the gemstones. Let's go."

The passageway was narrow, but eventually widened enough for the three to stand side by side. "This would be a lot easier if I had a helmet with night vision," said Arc.

"Yeah, well your helmet took most of the blast from that grenade. It was in worse shape than your head was when I found you," said Jyssa.

"I just don't like being the only one who can't hold a blaster and a glow rod at the same time."

Ahsoka trailed ahead of the group and said, over her shoulder. "If it helps you feel better, I don't even have a blaster."

"Wait, why not?"

Jyssa piped up, "Arc, she's a seventeen year old girl. How's she supposed to get her hands on a blaster?"

"We're on a farming planet. Kids go iriaz hunting here at 15."

"Yeah, when they're with a responsible adult. So technically, I'm the only one here who qualifies. Ahsoka's seventeen. You're thirteen."

"According to the other ARCs I talked to, thirteen is old enough for a Mandalorian to technically be considered an adult. Besides, nobody around here knows what a clone looks like under the helmet. I could walk right in to a hunting supply store and they'll never ask."

Jyssa shook her head, "Yeah, I know. It's weird though. You're the only other adult on my ship right now. So every time I make a crude joke at your expense, I suddenly remember that you're only thirteen and it weirds me out."

"Wait... you make crude jokes about me?"

"Well yeah. I took you aboard and dressed your wounds when you were injured. I hate to tell you this, but I've seen your junk, Arc."

Even in the darkness of the cave, Jyssa could see the deep blush.

Ahsoka hissed, "Quiet, you two."

"We're just joking around. Lighten up, kid."

"No really, quiet. I think I hear something." Ahsoka held up her glow rod as two large, spindly shapes skittered around the corner. One of them shrieked, and charged directly at Ahsoka. It had multiple legs and an exoskeleton, and looked like some kind of waist-high spider.

Before either of the two pistol wielders could react, the teenage girl did a spinning kick and knocked the creature aside. The combined momentum of its charge and her kick caused it to bash into the rock face hard enough to stun it for a moment. With a wave of her hand, she lifted it up with the Force, and threw it into the other one.

Arc fired two shots into each, and they both shrieked loudly. There was a little bit of twitching, but neither one got back up. His pistol hummed as it slowly recharged.

Ahsoka kneeled down by the twitching bodies. "These are a little paler than I've seen before... but they're definitely kinrath. I thought they only lived on Kashyyk. What are they doing in caves on Dantooine?"


	6. Chapter 6 - Inquest

**Chapter 6**

_Inquest_

_Edge of territory. Musk fading. Musk interrupted. Nonclan! Intruders! Tall! Smell like fresh meat! Meat for eggs! Charge! Attack! Bite! Poison!_

_ Pain. Hurt._

_ Protect the eggs. Attack the intruders! Ignore pain. Get up. Get up._

_ Burning. Burning. Darkness._

"Kinrath are simple creatures. I read the briefings on Kashyyk. If we're in their territory, they'll attack on sight. Or smell. Not sure which they use more." Arc said as he nudged the dead creature with his boot. "Be careful. Their bite is poisonous. One won't kill you, but it'll hurt for days. Two or three and you're getting into risky territory."

"Well, let's try not to provoke them," Ahsoka said. "I don't know what they're doing here on Dantooine, but whatever happens, we don't have the right to wipe them out in their own home."

"We may not have a choice, Ahsoka. They're very territorial."

Jyssa spit out a bit of her sweetreed. Or honeyroot. She still hadn't decided on a name. "Territory or not, if one of them comes charging at me and showing off those syringes that it calls teeth, I'm not gonna hold my fire."

"All right, but try to keep contact to a minimum. This is my mission. My rules."

Jyssa snorted, "Jedi."

Ahsoka held her hand out in front of her, feeling through the Force. Up ahead there were dozens of little hints of reflections in the Force. In the Force, it felt just like the caves on Ilum. Thankfully these caves weren't nearly as cold.

The cave forked, and some faint sounds of clacking could be heard from the left fork. Ahsoka said, "Let's take the right."

"I can get behind that." Jyssa kept her glow rod pointed to the right, so as not to alert any nearby kinrath down the other tunnel. Since she had her glow rod pointed ahead, she was the first one to see the body. And the only one of the three to yelp in surprise.

Arc kneeled down by the body. "This is ancient."

"I can tell. It's covered in dust," said Jyssa.

"No, I mean the armor. This is Neo-Crusader era Mandalorian armor. If it belonged to someone famous, or even if its just made of actual beskar, it's worth a mint." He brushed some of the dirt from the visor. "I wonder if we're related."

Ahsoka pointed her light a little further ahead. "I think I found his weapon." A long, thin shape could be seen in the dirt a few meters ahead. Ahsoka raised her hand and pulled it to her with the Force. "Wow... this is heavy."

"That's a beskad. Traditional Mandalorian saber. It's heavy because it's solid beskar. Mandalorian iron. Maybe you should use it instead of a lightsaber. Some of the ARCs who were trained by Mandos claim that beskar can even block a lightsaber." Ahsoka let it float over to him, and he put his blaster away. With his left hand he grabbed the handle. "If this sword really belonged to this guy, it's got to be about as old as the Jedi enclave here. Wow, it is heavy."

He swung it around a few times. "It would take me a while to work up the strength to use this. Still, I think it's kept an edge this whole time."

Jyssa grinned, "You really are out of shape. Can't even lift a little sword."

Arc offered the blade to her. "Here, give it a try."

"I'll keep my blaster, thanks."

"Suit yourself." He knelt down by the body and lifted the helmet off. The remains inside were practically dust, barely recognizable as even human. "It looks like most of this is rusted right through. Probably durasteel. Or some equivalent that they used back then."

Ahsoka knelt down next to him and shone her glowlamp at the armor. "The left forearm is a different color from the rest."

"You're right, it is." Arc poked the upper arm armor, and even a light push from the beskad dented it. He repeated it on the forearm plate, and the only effect was a dull thump. He set the sword down and started to unlatch the armored bracer. "I think he's got one piece of good Mandalorian iron. I should find out his name."

Pieces of bone, dust, and old rust-rotted metal fell out as he opened up the armor piece. But the hinges were steady and it came off. "It looks like he had a wrist mounted weapon of some kind in there, too. That could come in handy."

"Okay, am I the only one here who isn't a big fan of robbing corpses?" Jyssa stood back away from the armor. "Grife, I'm the one who brought a group of kriffing archeologists to this planet and agreed to bring them and their finds back. I guess I can't really criticize. Why in the core do you need to know his name, though?"

"I may only be Mando by blood, but I learned a bit from some of my brothers. Mandalorians remember the names of the fallen. It's a way of... I don't know, showing respect. Kind of. It's hard to describe. They also keep armor pieces as a way of remembering. So I think if I'm going to take his armor, I should know his name."

"It's too bad there's not much left of the paint job on this armor," said Ahsoka. "There's no crest. You can't really tell colors."

"Lorda Vhett. Clan Rokar," said Jyssa.

Arc turned his head towards her, his one good eyebrow raised. "Where did you get that from?"

"Well, you could say the writing is on the wall."

Ahsoka pointed her glow rod at the rock face, to see badly scratched words on the rock. A small knife, mostly rusted away, was stuck in a crack next to the writing. "You weren't kidding."

"Lorda... that's a woman's name. You can't really tell by the armor. Neo-Crusader era armor was bulky," said Arc. "She must have killed the kinrath, but was poisoned too badly to get away. So she left her name and clan here. To be remembered."

Ahsoka asked, "Is Vhett an older version of Fett?"

"No, it's just the Mandalorian version. Fett was a translation that stuck. Vhett actually means 'farmer'. It's actually a pretty common name. I doubt we're actually related."

"Still. Now you know her name."

Arc nodded, and slipped the bracer over his left forearm. With some difficulty, he managed to push down the latches. "It fits. I'm a little surprised."

Jyssa said, wryly, "Yes, well, if you're done putting your new jewelry on your delicate little girly wrists, I'd like to get out of this kinrath-infested cave sometime soon. Can we get a move on?"

"I don't know. Does it match my outfit?"


	7. Chapter 7 - Trial

**Chapter 7**

_Trial_

The three made their way through the caves. Occasionally the clicks and clacks of chitinous legs could be heard, but with the echoes in the cave system it was hard to tell which way they came from.

"It's hard to tell, but I think we're moving away from the crystals," Ahsoka said. "We may have to turn back."

"I'd rather not have to visit giant bugtown if I don't have to," replied Jyssa. "Regular spiders give me the creeps. Giant ones who can take down a Mandalorian kinda scare me. A little."

"Hold on a second... there are three of them up ahead."

Jyssa backed up a bit and took aim with her pistol. "How can you tell?"

Arc held out his own pistol over Ahsoka's shoulder. "She's a Jedi. That's how."

"I think I can scare them off." Ahsoka kneeled down and set her glow rod down. "I just need to concentrate."

Jyssa said, "Yeah, I can scare them off too. But I'll need my pistol to do it."

Ahsoka's head bowed down and she closed her eyes. She could feel the creatures in the Force. Now all she had to do was to connect with them. "These creatures... they've been touched by the Force. They're not intelligent enough to use it, or even feel it really. I think I can reach their minds..."

_Clan. Safe. Patrol. Graze. Food. Food. Scent? No. Patrol._

"They're so... simple. I think they use pheromones to tell friend from foe. If I can just turn them away..."

_Enemy? Enemy! Wrong musk! Attack! Defend the eggs! Save the eggs!_

A trio of shrieks could be heard echoing down the corridor, and the sudden clacking of spindly legs against stone could be heard disappearing into the distance. Ahsoka opened her eyes. "Oh boy... this could be trouble."

"What is it?" asked Arc. "It sounds like you scared them off."

"There's a reason why the kinrath have stayed in these caves all this time. They've developed some kind of symbiotic connection to the Force enhanced crystals in this cave. I don't know if the crystals form in the eggs, or if they just lay eggs on the crystals... but that's where the crystals are. In kinrath eggs."

"So, how about we avoid their nesting ground and try to find an old one," suggested Jyssa, "Preferably one that's been abandoned. For a very long time."

"Let me just check my map, then." Ahsoka smiled up at Jyssa, then stood up and dusted off her knees.

"Sure, but I'm getting hungry. Can we stop for some endwa first?"

"I don't know if there's a Corellian restaurant on this route. But I'll keep an eye out." Ahsoka glanced over at Arc, expecting him to say something witty.

"Sorry. I don't have any comradely banter right now." He looked down the rocky corridor, seemingly in thought. "I could go for a kruffy pie right about now, though."

"Sorry Arc, that'll have to wait until we get back to the ship." Ahsoka continued along the passageway. "I think I can feel a concentration of crystals that isn't near too many kinrath. I'll try to head that way."

Ahsoka led the way, with one hand in held out in front of her, trusting the Force to guide her. The further into the caves they walked, the deeper into concentration she fell. Through the Force, she could feel the rocks, the walls, the kinrath... and the faint points of light that twinkled throughout the caves.

Left, then another left, then right. Jyssa was starting to lose track of which directions they had turned. She murmured to Arc, "Are we going to find our way back out once we're done?"

He nodded, "Sure we will. I've got every turn we've made memorized. And I'm sure Ahsoka does too. I may not have perfect recall, like some of the specialized clones do. But I'm still a soldier. This is the sort of thing I'm trained for."

Before Jyssa could respond, Ahsoka gasped, "I think... I can feel it. A crystal. Just ahead. It feels just like my old lightsaber crystal!" She broke into a run and dashed ahead. Jyssa and Arc tried to keep up, but Ahsoka was faster than both of them.

The tunnel widened into a larger chamber, studded with crystal formations and large pod-like eggs scattered throughout the chamber. A large mass of rock and crystal took up most of the center of the room, with old egg shell remnants stuck to its surface at random angles.

"It's just on the other side of the room!" Ahsoka said, excitedly. She darted around the left side of the rock formation, and skidded to a halt. "Oh boy..."

Jyssa and Arc went around the right side, and saw what had caught Ahsoka's eye. A huge kinrath, as tall as a man and with a hugely swollen abdomen, sat on top of another crystal formation. It crouched, protectively, over several fresh eggs.

"Grife, that's a matriarch!" yelled Jyssa, "Let's get out of here before it calls for help!"

"Too late," said Ahsoka. Skittering sounds came from the passageway, and started getting louder. "They're almost here already."

Kinrath started pouring into the room, climbing over each other. Their fangs glistened with venom in the reflected crystal light. En masse, they chittered and squealed, arraying themselves out across the room.

"Got a plan, kid?" asked Arc, sounding oddly casual.

"Yeah... I grab the gem, use the Force to make a path, and we get out of here. Now!"

Ahsoka leapt, using the Force to enhance her spring. She sailed across the chamber and grabbed onto a crystal that jutted out of the wall right next to the matriarch. The crystal she was looking for gleamed in the Force, just beyond the matriarch!

Jyssa and Arc slowly backpedaled towards Ahsoka and the matriarch. A clacking sound came from a hole in the wall between them. Jyssa spun around, pointing her blaster at the hole. "Uh... Arc..."

"I see it." Several more kinrath crawled out of the hole, cutting them off from the matriarch and Ahsoka. One of them lunged, and Jyssa shot it, point blank. It fell, but another crawled over its corpse and lunged at her calf. She yelped, and fired twice more.

The larger group started running towards the two, and Arc fired six times. Shrill kinrath squeals filled the air, and Arc yelled over the noise, "Kid, we've got to get out of here!" Over the sounds of the kinrath, Arc could hear the whine of his pistol recharging. It was best used to fire slow, single shots. Several shots in rapid succession could drain the battery for a few seconds.

Ahsoka could see her perfect crystal, just beyond the matriarch. It would be easy to grab. The matriarch was huddling down, protecting her eggs. She wouldn't attack.

But the young togruta could hear the whine of Arc's pistol recharging, and she could sense the wave of kinrath, all scrabbling towards her friends.

* * *

_Author's note – Thanks for all the reads, reviews, likes, and follows! Knowing that people are reading and interested in the story is really helping inspire me to write more. A few hardcore nerds may have noticed that I updated several chapters to fix misspellings. It's hard to do a spell check on fictional nouns. :) Somehow I managed to misremember tibanna gas as having an e in it, and I put an extra L in Ilum. There were a few other fixes here and there, but I don't remember what they were offhand. I also fixed some punctuation errors in the dialogue._

_I hope you guys enjoy this story, this is one of my first attempts at doing a mostly character driven story. It's a bit easier for me to do it in the Star Wars universe than in any of my own worlds, since with Star Wars I don't have to make up the world and background events as I go along. Also, I hope that after the initial depression of the shock of Order 66, Ahsoka will perk back up again and become her usual upbeat self that so many fans are used to._

_Thanks for reading!_

_- Tirade_


	8. Chapter 8 - Judgment

**Chapter 8**

_Judgment_

With a grunted 'Gyaa!', Ahsoka Tano kicked off from the wall she had been clinging on to and flipped effortlessly backwards across the cave. She landed hard on a kinrath, practically squashing it against the hard rock floor, then leapt again, kicking a second kinrath as she flipped. She landed between her two friends, and with a powerful kinetic blast of Force energy, she sent the kinrath in front of her flying backwards towards their matriarch.

Jyssa fired several more blasts into the mass of kinrath between them and the door. "This doesn't look good!"

The kinrath were climbing up the walls, surrounding them. Arc's blaster clicked, and stopped humming. It was fully charged and ready for more. But the caves were spewing out more. Far more than both pistols could take out without having to recharge or put in a new power pack.

Ahsoka closed her eyes. She knew what had to be done. There was no way to get her crystal and save her friends. She reached out to the squealing and chittering mass of kinrath and touched their minds.

A flash of confusing thoughts, simple, but overwhelming in their strength and numbers, almost overloaded her mind.

_Attack defend attack defend bite call for help bite attack protect protect eggs defend_

With an amount of focus and effort that would have been impossible before her time as Anakin Skywalker's padawan learner, she turned their thoughts. In her mind, she pictured a lance made of pure thought, piercing the primitive ganglia that translated complex pheromones into simple thoughts and overriding the signal. At once, the kinrath stopped screaming and clacking. One by one, they backed away, leaving a several feet of space around the three humanoids.

"I don't know... how long... I can hold it..." Ahsoka had her eyes closed and her hands splayed on either side of her. Her voice didn't show signs of strain, but rather of deep concentration. "We have to... go... now..."

"Jyssa, grab her belt and pull her along. She won't be able to concentrate on where she's going in this state," said Arc as he slowly started walking towards the exit. Lacking a smart comment, she shoved her glow rod into her pocket and grabbed Ahsoka's belt, still holding her pistol in her right. Arc strode forward, slowly but confidently. The kinrath parted around the group, seeming to keep at least two meters away from Ahsoka at all times.

Two turns of the corridor later, and Ahsoka dropped her hands. She collapsed to her knees, suddenly dizzy. "Whoa... I had trouble breaking away there. I think I got entangled in their thoughts or... something."

Without warning, she bent over and gagged. Arc stood guard, keeping his pistol trained in the direction they came from in case of attack, while Jyssa knelt down and put a hand on Ahsoka's back.

"I'm okay... I just... erp... sorry. I had to tap into a primitive part of their brain. And I guess when I went back to just my own brain it jumbled up some of my... oh stang..." Jyssa patted Ahsoka's shoulder while she dry heaved a few times. A moment later, she stopped and breathed heavily. "I'm okay. Honest. Just gotta reset my brain back to Togruta mode, I guess. Some of my nervous signals got screwed up. That's never happened before."

"Have you ever tried that before?" Jyssa asked as she squeezed Ahsoka's shoulder.

"I've used the Force to calm animals and people before. I don't think I've ever actually tapped into something's nervous system before. Especially not something as primitive and vicious as a kinrath." Ahsoka coughed a few times. "And I've definitely never tried it on that many at once."

She stood up, shaken, but the dry heaves seemed to have gone. "There's still dozens back that way. I don't think there's any safe way to get that crystal. If I already had a lightsaber, it would be a breeze." She paused and cocked her head. "Huh. I can't feel the crystal anymore. Whoa..."

She swayed and stumbled. Jyssa tried to catch her, but completely missed. Ahsoka fell, and there was a loud crunch. Jyssa flinched, and said, "Sorry... I missed you. Again."

"That's okay, it wasn't me that broke." Ahsoka looked at the broken bits of rock she'd landed on. She tore off a few chunks, and realized that it wasn't a solid piece of stone. "Hey... this is hollow. I think it's a cluster of fossilized kinrath eggs..."

"Those look ancient." Jyssa shone her glow rod at the odd rock formation.

"I think they are. Wow... um... guys... I think I may have found something." Ahsoka reached into the broken rock and pulled out a crystal. Then another. Then another.

"You're kriffing kidding me. Seriously? We walked right by this? Into the jaws of those things? Grife!"

"Apparently," said Ahsoka as she pulled out a few more crystals. "We should get out into the light so I can actually see what these are."

Arc pointed behind him, towards the other two. "The way out is that way. I don't hear any more kinrath coming our way, but I suggest we double time it just to be safe."

"No arguments here," Jyssa said, as she held out a hand to Ahsoka. Ahsoka dropped the gems into a belt pouch and grabbed Jyssa's hand. Jyssa pulled her back up to her feet, and Ahsoka swayed for a moment.

"I'm good to go."

"You're still a little unsteady. Maybe we shouldn't do that double time thing," said Jyssa.

"I said I'm good to go. Trust me." Ahsoka started jogging in the direction Arc had pointed.

"Whatever you say, kid," replied Jyssa as she followed. Arc trailed behind, keeping an ear out for the sounds of any following feet. A few minutes later they found themselves passing the body in armor they'd found. And a few turns later, they were back in the ancient campsite. After what seemed like hours exploring the dark caves, it only took a few moments to find their way out into the sunlight.

Ahsoka poured the gems out of her pouch into her hand. Now that her mind was back in order and she didn't feel like she was going to throw up, it was easy to concentrate. "Two of these are lightsaber crystals. But I think... it feels like these other two"–she said as she pointed to an orange and light violet one– "look like they're actually secondary crystals. Which means that these last two are up for sale, if you want them."

Ahsoka slipped the four lightsaber crystals back into her pouch, and held the other two up to the light. "This one looks like an Ankaran sapphire. And this one..."

Jyssa's eyes went wide. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Nope. Not a diamond. Still, it's the biggest Kubaz zirconia I've ever seen in my life. It's still going to be worth a lot, even if it's not quite a fortune. I think the sapphire is payment to you. For everything."

"Ahsoka, you're the best damn guard and mechanic I've had on board my ship for years, and the second best pilot and gunner after me. You don't owe me a... ah grife." She snatched the bright blue stone. "I guess I can accept it."

The young Togruta grinned, and turned to Arc. "And this is for you."

"I don't even know what to do with this kind of payment." He looked genuinely confused.

"Maybe not, but a stone like this is valuable to anyone who works with semiconductors. It'll be an easy trade for a cybernetic arm that's high tech enough for you to be able to contact juggle some day."

"Grife," said Arc, looking at the stone, "you really know how to give a down on his luck clone a hand when he needs it."

"Hey, language!" Jyssa interjected. "You're only thirteen, you shouldn't be talking like that."


	9. Chapter 9 - Inquisition

Previously on Star Wars: Exile's Journey

Ahsoka Tano survived the execution of the Jedi only because a year before it happened, she had left the Jedi Order. Now, with two friends and crewmates at her side, Corellian pilot Jyssa Motla and an injured clone trooper named Arc, she has explored an ancient cave on Dantooine and found the proper crystals to remake her lightsabers.

But it is a dangerous time to become a Jedi. The Empire has risen, and it seeks to destroy or convert any Force users to its side.

And Ahsoka Tano hasn't made her lightsabers yet...

**Chapter 9**

_Inquisition_

A narrow ship with swept back wings split the air of Dantooine. Much larger than a starfighter, but smaller than a freighter. The heavily modified Baudo class starship bristled with more weaponry than a ship that size would normally be allowed to have. During the anarchy and conflict of the Clone Wars, however, the sight of a heavily modified vessel was not so uncommon.

The ship slowed, no longer breaking the sound barrier. It circled around the dig site, and landed on a flat patch of ground near the Red Drexl. From the cockpit, Jyssa could see that despite the fact that the Baudo was smaller than her Tolos class freighter, it easily outgunned her. She hit the intercom button and said, "Kids, you might want to keep your heads down. We've got a visitor. And it doesn't look pretty."

A moment later, the intercom crackled and Ahsoka's voice came from the speaker. "If anyone asks, I'm just working on stabilizing the coolant drive flow back here and I can't be disturbed."

"You're not trying to cannibalize my engine room for lightsaber parts, are you?" asked Jyssa.

"Of course not. I'm just taking inventory to see if I can use any parts you have in storage."

"That's not much better!"

"Hey, we Jedi are nothing if not honest."

Jyssa grumbled to herself, "You give these Jedi a centimeter, they'll take your spare power converters."

The radio crackled again, this time Arc's voice came over the speaker. "Okay, just to get our story straight. If anyone finds me, I'm just a wounded clone that you took in. I've only been conscious for two days, so I haven't heard about Order 66 or the Empire. You sent a message to the garrison 740A, and you haven't heard back. 740A was destroyed in a bombardment a week ago, but you can just say you hadn't heard about that because we're out here in the middle of nowhere. Simple enough. Worst that will happen is that I'll be forced to go back to the service."

The ramp on the other ship lowered and a humanoid figure stepped out. From a distance, all Jyssa could see was bright red hair. And size. The man was massive. And he was heading towards her ship.

Well, the polite thing to do would be to go out and greet him. But that might look suspicious. "So, impolite it is, I guess," said Jyssa to herself. She got up and walked to the ramp. As she got there, she heard a loud knocking on the ramp.

She looked at her chrono, and waited. After the fourth knock, she hit the hatch release button. The hatch slid open, and on the other side of the door was a huge man with red hair, batlike ears, and a set of bony spikes where his beard should have been. "What is it? I'm trying to recalibrate my fuel matrix here."

The man growled, a deep catlike sound. His features reminded Jyssa of a humanoid cat, although she didn't recognize the species. "What you are doing is immaterial. You will cooperate with me, or I will seize your property." He held up an official looking badge. "I am an Imperial Inquisitor, and I have come here looking for any Jedi seditionists who may have escaped from Imperial arrest."

"Well, I hate to break it to you buddy, but you're a few thousand years too late. All I got is a shipment of college students, digging up old Jedi bones. You can talk to them if you want, they're right over in those ruins. But I don't think they've found a live one yet."

The man grinned, showing an impressive and intimidating array of teeth. "I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation. The Inquisitors are a new branch of Imperial Intelligence. Since Imperial Intelligence has only existed for a week, and our branch for four days, that means that the Senate hasn't really had time to pass many laws restricting what we can and can't do. If I have the slightest suspicion that you are hiding anything from me, I have free reign to do as I please. I take your property. I can take your ship. I can even take you. The slave markets on Zygerria have reopened, as have the ones on Dorus and Nal Hutta. I'm sure you'd fetch a price almost as high as your ship. I trust that I make myself clear."

Jyssa was just as frightened as the Inquisitor had hoped, but she refused to show it. "As crystal. Feel free to poke around however much you want. I got nothin' to hide."

"Good. Consider your ship grounded for the next day or so until I finish searching the area." He walked up the ramp, forcing her to step aside to avoid being bowled over. "Now, I believe I will take you up on that offer to 'poke around'."

Jyssa swallowed nervously, noticeably paler than usual. This wasn't good. Even at a casual glance she could see the musculature throughout the man's body. His catlike grace belied an athletic skill greater than what she'd seen in the most competent clone trooper. And at one side hung a large stun stick, custom made and with a bigger power pack than most. At the other hung a disruptor pistol, capable of tearing through flesh and armor in ways that normal blasters couldn't achieve. Armor plates could be seen, some easily visible, some half hiding under his clothes. As he walked past her, she saw, strapped to his back, the handle of a larger weapon poking out from under his red mane.

Despite being almost one point eight meters tall, Jyssa felt dwarfed by this man. Standing next to him, her dun hair seemed dull. And her tiny pistol just seemed unimpressive. And his presence just projected power, control.

But something about him just felt foul. Jyssa felt dirty letting him push her around. But it had to be done. The safety of her crew was at stake. The safety of her friends was at stake.

The large humanoid headed to the cockpit, apparently familiar with the layout of the ship. He looked over the cockpit, and pressed a few buttons on the navicomputer. "I see you've been to quite a few places as of late."

"Yeah, but I've been grounded here for the last week. We're not leaving to take these college kids back to Rudrig for another couple of days."

"I see. It appears that everything here is in order." He pushed past her again, seemingly ignorant of the fact that two bodies were incapable of occupying the same space. He looked into the crew quarters. Only two of the four rooms showed signs of occupation. "There's someone else on your crew."

"Of course. You think I'd fly alone? At the very least, I need a mechanic. And a copilot is never a bad idea."

He looked right into her eyes. "Where is this mechanic and copilot?"

Jyssa tried not to show signs of any kind of weakness, but this man was scary. And worst of all, he knew it. "She was in the back, doing something with the coolant system. I don't tell her how to keep my ship in repair, she doesn't tell me how to pilot."

He immediately turned and walked back to the engine room. When he walked into the room, he was greeted by the sight of Ahsoka, with half of her face covered by heavy goggles, and a floor covered in greasy engine parts. Without looking up she said, "Watch where you ste... oh, wow. You're a big one."

She had strategically smeared enough coolant fluid and grease on herself to distort her stripes and skin pattern. Combined with the goggles, most of her face was unrecognizable. Her headtails had grown several inches in the last year as well, and she hoped that any database with her picture in it would look nothing like her appearance now.

"You're a Togruta," he said. "Several Togruta jedi have escaped capture."

Before she could protest, he pulled something out of his pocket. He pointed it at her and pulled the trigger.


	10. Chapter 10 - Witch Hunt

**Chapter 10**

_Witch hunt_

A narrow beam of light came from the emitter. In an instant, it ran over Ahsoka's face. The device gave a triple beep, and the Inquisitor put it back in his pocket. He held up his left arm, and from his wrist, a small holograph of her facial pattern appeared. Red lines hovered in the air, other facial patterns briefly appeared and overlapped with hers. Finally, the holograph disappeared, and the Inquisitor's device gave another triple beep.

"Your facial pattern does not match any of the current Togruta Jedi," he growled. "Is there anyone else aboard the ship?"

"There's one more on board. An injured soldier. We found him, floating in a defunct escape pod. He's recuperating in our med bay," Jyssa volunteered quickly. "We contacted the nearest Republic base. I mean, Imperial base. Haven't heard back yet."

The man growled, "Which base might this be?"

"I don't remember," said Jyssa. "I think it was..."

"740A, Captain Motla," Ahsoka volunteered.

"Thank you. Yes. 740A. On Priostare."

The Inquisitor snorted. "Convenient. I'm afraid that base 740A was overrun by the Separatists a week ago, before the cease-fire was arranged. I will need to see this soldier."

He turned around and left the engine room, heading directly towards the med bay. Jyssa followed him a few feet behind. The Inquisitor barged into the room to see Arc, lying on his bunk. Arc sat up slowly and said, "Sir, ready to report for duty as soon as necessary."

"At ease, soldier. I'm not your commanding officer."

Arc shook his head. "Sorry sir, I thought that was a lightsaber on your belt."

"If it was, you would be obligated to shoot me. Order 66 was issued, and has not been rescinded."

Arc blinked. "Order 66... but... where does that leave my command structure?"

"I don't know, soldier. Nor do I really care. As soon as you are returned to your people, you can be briefed. I am simply here to find, detain, or destroy any Jedi on this planet."

Without another word, the Inquisitor turned and walked away. Before leaving the ship, he turned to Jyssa. "I will question the archeologists you spoke of. Until I leave or until I let you know otherwise, this ship is not to take off for any reason."

"We ain't going anywhere until our academic passengers are done with their little field trip," said Jyssa. "Until then, we're grounded no matter what you say."

The moment he was down the ramp, Jyssa closed the hatch. She ran back to the engine room, where Ahsoka had already cleaned up most of the mess. Jyssa exclaimed, "We've got a problem. It's only been four days since Order 66, and they've already got official Inquisitors out looking for Jedi. We need to get you a fake ID, girl. Why didn't his scanner get you?"

"I told you. I was expelled from the Jedi order. They asked me to come back, but I said no. So according to their records, I'm not a Jedi."

"Yeah, well somebody's gonna put some databytes together and add you to the list. We need to plan."

"Yes, we do. But first, we need to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone. That was a Zygerrian. Normally I try not to judge a person by their species... but you can make an exception for Zygerrians. They're slavers. They kidnapped an entire colony of my people during the war and tried to make slaves out of them."

"I take it they didn't succeed."

"No way. Anakin and I weren't going to let them get away with that." She looked down at the ground. "I barely remember my childhood before the temple. But Master Skywalker... well, he grew up in Hutt territory. He was a slave until he was ten years old and the Jedi found him. When we were heading out to Zygerria... I don't think I've ever seen a fire in his eyes like that before."

"From what you've told me about him, I think I should feel sorry for the Zygerrians."

Ahsoka smiled, and said, "Maybe a little. All we did was save all of my people, destroy a major slave training outpost, accidentally get their Queen killed, and destabilized their entire government and economy. Not really enough punishment for being slavers, in my opinion." She reached out a hand, and the rest of the clutter in the engine room started floating as she used the Force to put the part, one by one, on the rack they came from. "I should get out there, though. Shadow him. Make sure nobody says too much."

Jyssa raised an eyebrow. "As long as my engine room is clean, you're free to go."

"Sure thing, Captain."

* * *

Ahsoka watched from a niche in a broken wall as the Zygerrian interrogated the student archeologists. Focusing on her senses, she could hear his questions from a distance, and so far he just seemed like he was being thorough before he moved on. And to their credit, not a one of them mentioned Ahsoka's name, or the fact that she was a Jedi.

The Inquisitor's wrist beeped again, this time it appeared to be some kind of communication. A holo floated above his wrist. From a distance, Ahsoka could only see that it was text of some kind. He swiped through a few holopages, then turned to leave.

Ahsoka slipped down from her perch and made her way back to the Red Drexl, just in case the Inquisitor came back to check on them. She made her way to the padded pilot's chair in the cockpit and put her feet up to watch. The Inquisitor went straight to his ship, and a moment later the ship's systems started powering up.

"Hey," said Jyssa as she walked into the cockpit, "that's my chair. Nobody sits in the comfy chair but me. And get your feet off the console. That's a captain's prerogative."

Ahsoka put her feet down. "Sorry, I was just trying to keep tabs on the Inquisitor. Looks like he's heading out."

"Good riddance."

"He got a message right before he left. I'm worried he may have actually gotten a lead on another Jedi."

Jyssa shrugged and said, "So, what do you think you can do about it?"

"I don't know. But I don't intend to let him find any other Jedi if I can help it."

Jyssa snorted and shook her head, "Only a kriffing Jedi would risk their life to save a random person who may or may not even exist. Remember, I can't take the ship up until the students are ready to go home."

"You've got a swoop on board. I'll pay for the fuel."

"You know you don't have to do that. You can take it. Just please, bring it back in one piece." Jyssa gave a wry grin and said, "Please come back in one piece yourself, too."

The two watched as the Inquisitor's Baudo lifted off, banked to the north, then rocketed off. Jyssa followed it on the sensors.

"It looks like its heading for Sandrale city, eighty kilometers to the north," said Jyssa. "Shouldn't take too long on speeder."

"I'll fuel it up. Thanks, Captain. I'll be back before you know it."

"Good. But in the meantime... out of the comfy chair."


	11. Chapter 11 - Cheat

**Chapter 11**

_Cheat_

The swoop was small, with an underpowered engine. On the open stretches of grass or road, Ahsoka pushed the engine up to a hundred and twenty kilometers per hour, but the engine didn't seem to want to go much faster than that. The wind whipped back the long nerf-hide coat that Ahsoka had put on to protect herself from wind, and to act as an extra layer of disguise. She wore a different set of goggles, one that was strongly tinted to hide her eyes. Cleaned of engine grease, now she looked less like a teenage mechanic, and more like a teenage swoop hooligan.

Or rather, with a swoop this underpowered, she looked more like a wannabe teenage swoop hooligan.

The first half of the trip was an exercise in beauty, crossing over broad plains of waving grasses. As much as Ahsoka tried to focus on the task at hand, she couldn't help but to be distracted, and calmed by the rolling landscape. Unfortunately, the landscape had a habit of occasionally tossing up bugs and bits of chaff up to Ahsoka's face level, so every now and then her moving meditation was interrupted rather unexpectedly.

The second half, once she got closer to the city, was on roads. Which meant that she actually had to slow down to the same speed as the other vehicles, which in this area were mostly grain delivery trucks.

Eventually she got to the outskirts of Sandrale city. There was no point in keeping an eye out for the Inquisitor's ship, it was so much faster than her swoop that it had probably arrived before she even finished fueling it up.

The city was the closest thing that this side of Dantooine had to a bustling spaceport. Which meant that by the standards Ahsoka was used to, it was tiny. Then again, after thirteen years spent on Coruscant, every city seemed tiny.

Now for the hard part. Ahsoka had to figure out what the Inquisitor's tip was, and how to beat him to it in spite of his head start. It was times like this that the Force came in really handy.

* * *

"Come on now, come on now, try your best. See if you can outsmart a ten year old boy. Are your eyes faster than my hands? Throw in a cred or two to find out," yelled Nat Tina. The din of the marketplace meant that he had to yell, otherwise no one could hear him from more than a few meters away. "You, sir, care to prove your mental might? Can you outwit a ten year old Twi'lek?"

The man, who had been walking through the marketplace with a pretty girl by his side, smiled and walked over to Nat. "Sure, I'll give it a try," he said as he flicked a two credit chit onto Nat's table, which was really more of a board sitting on top of a bucket than an actual table.

"Can you look faster than I can move? Let's see!" said Nat, in his most theatrical voice. He lifted up each of the three cups on his table, one by one, showing a warra nut underneath one of them. "Now, the object is simple. I flip, spin, move, switch these cups as fast as I can. It's up to you to keep track of which cup has the warra nut. Now, here we go... there's a spin, and a twist... and a twirl..."

Nat started off slow, moving and switching the cups again. He got faster, and faster, until eventually it got so fast that it was difficult to follow. Even he didn't bother keeping track of which cup the green nut was in. He came to a halt, and took his hands off the cups and said, "So... can you outsmart a ten year old? Which one is the warra nut in? Care to take a guess?"

The young man pointed to the cup on the right. Nat narrowed his eyes and focused in the Force. The young man was wrong... but he seemed like an honest guy. Nat knew he had to let people win now and then, otherwise he'd stop getting patrons. Using the Force, he lifted up the warra nuts in the left and center cups so that they hovered at the top of the cups. One by one, he lifted up the cups to show the only visible warra nut in the cup on the right. "Good call, you've beaten a ten year old!" Nat said, with a warm, but slightly sarcastic tone. He was nothing if not a showman. He tossed the young man's credit chit back to him, along with another two credit chit.

The young man laughed, and tossed one of the chits back to Nat. "Thanks for the show, kid. I wasn't sure I got it right."

Nat caught the chit out of midair, and winked at the girl next to the young man and said, "He's a keeper, don't let him stray too far!"

A week ago Nat Tina had been honored to be sent on his first mission as a Padawan to Jedi Master Tolan Reyes. Now he was a few dozen light years away, playing shell games to buy food.

And he was having trouble finding people he didn't feel guilty about taking money from. Most of the citizens here on Dantooine were friendly farmers, more than willing to toss a credit to a poor young boy in need. But Nat didn't want their money. He wanted money from the greedy, the churlish, and from those people who would toss money at him because they thought they could defeat and humiliate him in the middle of the market. Fortunately for this world, there weren't many people of that sort. Unfortunately for Nat's growling stomach, those people were, as far as he could tell, much too few and far between.

He looked up and scanned the crowd, with his eyes and with the Force. His senses drew his attention to a pretty Togruta girl in a long nerf-hide jacked. "What about you, care to try your luck, or if you're good enough, your skill?"

"You little turg," bellowed a slurred, drunken voice to Nat's right.

"Oh great," thought Nat, "there's one of those people now." He quickly started to gather up his cups and warra nuts. Those could very well end up being his dinner tonight.

"You cheated me! I want my karking money back!" The man stomped up to Nat and kicked Nat's short table. The bucket went spinning to the right, and the board went spinning to the left. The drunkard, a large man with bloodshot eyes and wearing stained coveralls, swiped one meaty hand at Nat's brain tails. Nat dodged, rolling to the left and grabbing his tabletop with both hands. He jumped to his feet and raised his board high, ready to swing it at the man's head. The man gave a grunt as he fell down to his knees, then made a choking sound.

Nat stared, confused. Then he noticed the thin orange arm that had snaked around the man's throat from behind. The teenage Togruta had one foot on the back of the drunkard's knees, and was gently, but firmly applying a sleeper hold to the man's cartoid artery.

"Sleep it off, buddy," she said, as the man went limp. She let go, and he fell to the ground. Nat stared, in shock and still ready to strike with his board. After dropping the drunk dead weight, she looked up at Nat and said, "I think we need to get you out of here. It's not safe."

Then Nat realized where he knew her from. The last time he'd seen that face, she'd been taking six other Younglings to Ilum to get their lightsaber crystals. "Padawan Tano?"

Suddenly his fledgling danger sense flared, and he turned and yelped, just in time to see former Padawan Ahsoka Tano sweep her hand in front of her, telekinetically knocking an electrified net to the side. A tall, red haired, well muscled Zygerrian stood ten meters away, with a small rifle of some kind pointed at them.


	12. Chapter 12 - Low Blow

**Chapter 12**

_Low Blow_

"So, we meet again, mechanic. I thought something seemed off about you." The Zygerrian slung the rifle around his back, its ammo apparently spent in a single shot. The marketplace crowd spread out, leaving a huge space between the three. Nat gripped his board tightly, unsure of what to do as the Zygerrian pulled out a pistol with one hand and a long stun stick with the other. The stun stick flared to life, crackling electricity running up and down it. "If you give up now, you and the boy might survive what happens next."

"Worry about yourself, slaver," Ahsoka said evenly, dropping into a fighting stance.

Nat said, panicked, "Where's your lightsaber?"

"I don't have one."

Then the Zygerrian opened fire. Ahsoka dodged one, two, three bolts. The fourth looked like it might wing her. Nat panicked, and used the Force to throw the bucket that had been the bottom half of his table between the two. The bolt hit the bucket, and burned a hole right through it. But the bolt was slightly deflected, and only singed Ahsoka's coat. Ahsoka landed, crouched low.

"Run!" she yelled to Nat, "Get out of here! I'll handle this schutta!"

He nodded, and darted down a narrow alley.

Ahsoka faced off against the Inquisitor. The marketplace was rapidly emptying out as people panicked and fled from the large man with the large blaster. To an outside observer the fight looked like it would be one sided. A large, well armed man verses a small teenage girl.

But this observer had never seen a Jedi in action. Ahsoka leapt, flying ten meters through the air in the blink of an eye. She landed, with both knees against the Inquisitor's shoulders. He grunted and windmilled backwards a few steps, but the impact had hurt Ahsoka as much as it had hurt him. Apparently his shirt hid armored shoulder paldrons. Before he could recover, she punched him in the face with a solid right, left, then another right. He snarled, and she sensed the attack before his arm even moved. With a quick push through her legs and through the Force, she performed a lazy back flip while his stun stick crackled through the air in front of his face where she'd been a moment before.

She dodged two more shots from his pistol, then did a quick spin kick to his gun hand. He didn't lose his grip on the pistol, but at least it knocked it aside for a moment. She gathered up all of her concentration and blasted him with sheer telekinetic force.

He was only knocked back a few feet. Without a pause, he glared at her and unleashed three more blaster bolts in her direction. "No Jedi whelp is going to take me down!" he yelled, "I am Koros L'Larr, master hunter! No bounty, slave, or even Jedi can stand against me!"

As Ahsoka flipped to avoid the third bolt, he dashed forward and swung his stun stick. She barely ducked under it, seeing trails of electricity flare right in front of her eyes. She tried to duck around him and kick the back of his knee, but he turned and lifted his leg, taking the hit on one of the armored greaves attached to his boots. Before she could react, even with Jedi precognition, he lashed out. She was too close for him to swing and hit her with the electrified part of his stun stick, but a solid pommel strike still sent her sprawling, with the wind knocked out of her. She rolled over, gasping for air. He must have gotten a solid hit to her solar plexus for her to have this much trouble breathing.

All she could see was the outline of the large Zygerrian, a dark shape blocking out the sun behind him. Then he raised the stun stick, crackling lightning surrounding it.

And a small metal cylinder rolled into Ahsoka's hand. Her hand closed around it. It was a small Padawan-sized lightsaber. She ignited it, just in time to deflect the stun stick. She rolled backwards, kicking out as hard as she could partway through the roll, and used the Force to calm her nerves and force her lungs to expel their held breath. The lightsaber was small, and a little shorter than what Ahsoka was used to. She saw that her kick had landed exactly where she aimed it. And even with a codpiece, the Inquisitor was still half bent over in pain.

And she charged. Batting the stun stick aside, she charged in close to him, then flipped backwards and kicked off from his stomach. Even with light armor, he had the wind knocked out of him and stumbled back. She charged again, with both hands on the small lightsaber hilt. She entangled her blade with the oddly lightsaber-resistant stun stick and forced it to the side. Koros tried to point his blaster at her, and without missing a beat, Ahsoka disentangled her blade from his weapon and slashed at his wrist. The blaster, along with the gauntlet-covered hand that had held it, fell to the ground.

In shock, the Inquisitor stared at the stump where his hand had been. Then his vision went dark as Ahsoka drove the glowing blue blade through his heart, and his body ceased to function.

Ahsoka turned off the lightsaber as the large body fell to the ground. She looked back towards the alley behind her to see the small Twi'lek boy, looking a little more green than he had when she first saw him.

He slowly walked over to her. Looking down at the body, he asked, "Is he..."

"Yes. He's dead." She nudged the body with her foot. "We should get him out of here. Someone's bound to have called the police by now. And you're not safe here anymore."

Ahsoka handed the lightsaber back to the boy, stuck the long stun stick in her belt, and then began to pull the body back into the alley. She saw the flashing lights of an emergency response vehicle pull into the marketplace, and several men in uniforms exited it. At the last moment, she realized that she had left some evidence of foul play. The armored hand, sitting next to the powerful blaster pistol, was still in the middle of the street. Reaching out with the Force, she pulled them both slowly towards her, hoping that the uniformed men wouldn't notice.

"Okay, we've got to get out of here. I've got a speeder bike parked at the edge of town. Do you know any place we can hide this body?"

Nat looked down at the ex-Inquisitor and said, "I don't know... I've never even thought about... Sithspit... I don't know."

"Calm down," Ahsoka said, "take a breath. We need to get moving. The police could poke their heads into the ally any minute."

"I guess... there's an old abandoned dumpster in one of the alleys I sleep in. It looks rusted shut, but there's a loose panel on the side. I hid things in there and they never got stolen."

Ahsoka handed him the blaster pistol and the hand. "I need you to hold these while I drag the body."

Nat looked at the hand, and went from yellow-green to almost purely green. "O...kay. I've got it."

"What's your name?" asked Ahsoka, as she dragged the body down the alley. She was trying to distract him from the gruesome scene in front of him.

"Nat Tina. I was apprenticed to master Tolan Reyes."

"I remember him. Corellian, right? Green lightsaber, yellow hair?"

Nat nodded. "We were assigned to a mission on Toprawa, when suddenly our Clone Troopers turned on us. He died protecting me. I stowed away on an empty grain ship. I've been here six days now."

Ahsoka turned to him, her face showing surprise. "Six days? Are you sure?"

"I think I know how many days it's been since I showed up on this planet!"

"I believe you, I'm just confused. Order 66 was called four days ago."

"Well, I don't know why Captain Roc and all of the other clones tried to kill us. I just know it was a week ago. And I've been here on Dantooine for six days. All I've heard about the last six days on the holonews is that the Jedi betrayed the Republic. But there isn't even a Republic anymore left to betray."

"Grife. Someone planned this. Your master was alone, away from other Jedi. They must have tried to take him out early. Maybe it was a test, to see if the Clone Troopers could actually do it." Ahsoka followed Nat around a corner, and he kneeled down by an ancient looking dumpster. With his small fingers, he pried open a panel on the side and took out a few spare cups and a small pouch of credit chits.

Ahsoka dragged the body over to the dumpster, but before she did, she started going through the dead man's pockets. She found several hidden weapons, a wallet with his official looking ID, as well as a half-dozen official looking ID cards for various government agencies. "Wow, either he was a fraud... or Inquisitors are allowed to impersonate anyone they want to. Even other government officials."

She pocketed the weapons and the wallet, and as an afterthought, took his scanner and wrist computer as well. Then she used the Force to levitate his body through the narrow hole. She took the hand from Nat and tossed it in after the body, then pushed the panel back into place.

Now there was no sign of a missing Inquisitor, except for the ship he must have left parked somewhere in the spaceport.


	13. Chapter 13 - Personnel

Previously on Star Wars: Exile's Journey

After the events of Order 66 and the death of the Jedi Order, Ahsoka Tano has decided to become a Jedi once more. But before she could build her lightsaber, she faced a new challenge. The fledgling Empire had begun hiring powerful hunters called Inquisitors to track down any remaining Jedi.

A Zygerrian bounty hunter named Koros L'Larr came to the ancient Jedi enclave to see if any Jedi had returned to the old place of power. Luckily, due to the fact that Ahsoka had left the Jedi Order nearly a year before, she was not in any database of living members of the Jedi Order that the Inquisitor had.

But he tracked a young Padawan named Nat Tina to the nearby city of Sandrale, and Ahsoka was forced to defeat him in battle.

**Chapter 13**

_Personnel_

Ahsoka drove her speeder as casually as she could, coasting through the spaceport. Luckily, this was a small town spaceport and there were very few covered hangars. And most of them were reserved for large grain ships, like the one that Nat had stowed aboard. Most of them flew out, full of grain for worlds that had larger populations and less farmland than Dantooine, then returned half empty, carrying smaller amounts of luxury items, fuel, and farming equipment to continue the cycle of commerce. Nat had hidden inside the bed of a transport truck that had been shipped to Sandrale City from Toprawa.

After twenty minutes of searching, Ahsoka saw the familiar profile of a modified Baudo class yacht. Pulling closer, she saw now that the ship was called the Whipclaw. Not a surprising name, since the late owner had been from a proud race of slavers. Pulling out the Inquisitor's wrist computer, she pressed a button on it, and the ramp lowered.

She pulled the speeder bike inside the ramp and raised it again. "You ever piloted a ship before, Nat?"

He shook his head. "No. Just simulations."

"Okay, then you're stuck in the copilot's seat." Ahsoka paused and cocked her head. "Wait a minute... I think I heard something."

She walked along the corridor and opened a door. The small room inside appeared to be a miniature jail, with three cells. One of them was occupied by a large insectiod alien. It clicked its mandibles together excitedly.

"You! You are not him! Not him, good, good, good. Please help. Have done nothing. Nothing. Nothing wrong. Nothing."

The creature spoke almost too fast for Ahsoka to follow. "Slow down, I'll see if I can get you out of there. What's your name?"

"Name... we have a name. Haven't used it in weeks. Bounty hunter kidnapped me. Made me fix his ship. Forces me into cage when he leaves. Not surprising. Zygerrian's entire culture based on slave ownership." He clacked his mandibles a few times. "Xho Fik'ta. My name. Xho. He never used it. Almost forgot. Seems like forever. Only ZT-47 calls me by my name. Do you know where he is?"

"Is that a droid?"

"Yes. My personal droid. Talks to me. In my head. Keeps me sane. Haven't talked to him in days. Been locked up. Cell disrupts communication." The insectoid alien's antennae twitched, "Please, get me out of here. Must find ZT-47. Must find Zete. Will help."

Ahsoka looked at the panel. "Looks like it needs a code," she said as she hovered her hand over the panel and closed her eyes. She reached out through the Force, trying to feel what buttons the Inquisitor pressed when he opened it. "Blast! I can't feel anything."

Nat piped up behind her, "I've got a key right here."

She turned around to see him holding up his lightsaber. She smiled at him, "Good call, kid. I can't sense any booby traps. That should work just fine."

She took the lightsaber, turned it on, and started cutting through the bars. They were a sturdy, thick material and they resisted even the lightsaber. But one by one, the bars gave way to the glowing blade.

"You are Jedi! Not safe, not safe for you! Cursed Zygerrian has a contract. Deal. He is hunting for you. Full government cooperation. You're not safe here! Don't risk your life for me. Run. Hide."

"Relax," said Ahsoka, "He won't be coming around any time soon. I'm afraid we had a little run-in with him. He won't be capturing anyone anymore."

The alien chittered as Ahsoka cut through the last bar. Delicately, trying to avoid touching the still orange-hot edges of the bars, he stepped through. His antennae waved. "Thank you, Jedi. You have saved me. Saved us. Zete! Must find Zete. It sounds like he's..." the antennae circled around until they pointed towards the back of the ship, "this way. This way. Not capturing anymore... does that mean he is deceased? Demised?"

Ahsoka nodded and said, "I'm afraid so. We hid his body so we'd have time to find this ship and move it. We don't want anyone tracing his movements back to here."

"Intelligent choices. Good choices. Couldn't have done better myself. Really couldn't. Been locked up. No contact. A little bit stir-crazy right now." Xho led the way towards the back of the ship. Sitting on a workbench in the engine room was a small tablet computer. He scooped it up. "Zete! I have missed you for days!"

The tablet responded, "I am glad to see that you are safe. I have been in power standby mode, I'm afraid I'm rather low."

"Your droid is a tablet?" asked Nat.

"Yes. Sentience program does not require legs. Arms. Locomotion. Only a processor capable of running the sentience program. ZT-47 is my partner. He helps me while I'm working."

"Greetings, Masters Jedi," said the tablet, "I am glad to meet you, and equally glad to hear of that awful Koros L'Larr's demise. While my programming may cause me to be incapable of causing harm to sentient beings, I would be lying if I said I hadn't wished that I was capable of breaking the rules in his case."

Ahsoka grinned, "That's an awfully strong willed tablet."

Xho shook his head, "You have no idea."

"Good hearing, too."

Xho's antennae twitched, "Didn't hear earlier conversation. Relayed."

"What do you mean?"

"Verpine antennae are not merely decoration. Transmit radio waves. Zete has been programmed to be able to communicate with me. Can transmit ideas, words, sentences, pictures, even some thought fragments. Verpine are not a communal or hive minded species, but we are used to hearing each other through radio waves. Go a little strange in the head without it. Sensory deprivation. Lack of contact. Been away from my people for months now, up until I was kidnapped Zete kept me sane and grounded. We are both in your debt. If there is anything we can do for you, please, name it."

"Well, first thing's first. We have to get clearance to take off from the spaceport authority. Then we have to pilot this bucket of bolts back to where our ship is, about eighty kilometers south of here."

ZT-47 piped up, "Of course. I know all the contact protocols for the spaceport authorities on over seven thousand worlds. I have just sent a query. We should get a response with an approximate time and vector window momentarily."

"Thank you, Zete," Ahsoka said, "I'll head to the cockpit and start powering the ship up. Xho, do you know of any lockdown codes or booby traps he may have left here?"

Once again, ZT-47 responded first, "There is a lockdown code. It cycles every hour. For the next thirty three minutes it should be four-seven-orenth-krill-two. Once we are safely away from here, I can show you how to reset the lockdown code to one of your own choice."

"Thank you, Zete."

"My pleasure, Mistress Jedi."


	14. Chapter 14 - Materials

**Chapter 14**

_Materials_

Nat fidgeted in the copilot's seat. "How come you don't have a lightsaber? Didn't you used to have two of them?"

Ahsoka banked the ship once she was out of the flight pattern around Sandrale City. Once she was clear of the air traffic, she set the autopilot and turned the chair around. It was much too large for her, with shoulder padding at her head level, and a back so broad that she was completely hidden from behind. "I had two of them. I turned them in when I left the Jedi Order."

"Why did you leave the Jedi? You were apprenticed to the most powerful Jedi Knight in the entire Order!"

"It's a long story, Padawan." She looked down at her belt where she had once kept her lightsaber. In its place hung the Inquisitor's stun stick. "Now I guess I've got a stun stick instead of a lightsaber. Not quite a fair trade. I've never seen a stun stick that could block a lightsaber, though."

Xho chittered from the cockpit doorway, "There are several rare materials that can block a lightsaber. May I see it?"

Ahsoka unhooked the stun stick from her belt and handed it over to Xho. He held it close to his insectoid eyes and said, "Looks to be a phrik alloy. Not as sturdy as Mandalorian iron, but effective. And far easier to obtain."

"You can tell that much from just a look?"

"I can see the crystalline structure of the metallic compounds. While I cannot do a spectral analysis by eye, I am familiar with many metallic compounds. I have not seen a phrik compound this sturdy since I had a chance to look at a MagnaGuard's electrostaff. This may have been made by the same manufacturer." Xho rolled the stun stick over, and started unscrewing the grip. "Double diatium power cell. Quite powerful. Removable shock strips. Easy to replace when they become damaged. The endcap is made of a cheaper material, as is the cap on the tip."

Ahsoka looked at the stun stick. "Maybe it's a better trade than I thought." She turned to Xho and asked, "What would it take to replicate the shape of the shock strips and make duplicates made of some kind of rubber grip material?"

"With the tools available on this ship? Simple. In the engine room Koros kept a full workbench with all manner of useful tools and equipment. A simple mold could be made to extrude shock strips from grip quality rubber. But, as I'm sure you know, rubber is non-conductive and this would defeat the purpose of the shock strips."

"Oh, I plan on making some other modifications to this thing," Ahsoka said as she reached into her belt pouch and pulled out two of the crystals she had found in the cave. "Can you see what effects these crystalline structures would have?"

Xho held the lavender colored crystal up close to his compound eyes. He chittered excitedly, "I have read of the properties of this crystal. I believe they are called bondar crystals. When plasma is conducted through them, it creates an ionic flow of electricity. This means that beam of plasma that is focused through a bondar crystal will have a strong electric charge."

"An electric lightsaber? That's a new one by me."

The Verpine handed the crystal back to Ahsoka and inspected the orange crystal. "This... where did you find this?"

"In a cave, near the ancient Jedi enclave here on Dantooine."

Xho looked at Ahsoka and clacked his mandibles together, "I have only seen pictures of this structure. This is incredibly rare. They have been found in only two places... Sacorria, in the Corellian sector... and the frozen caves of Rhen Var in the Tion cluster."

Ahsoka's eyes went wide, "Rhen Var? I was just there recently. There was a battle there, and after the battle we found an injured Clone Trooper who had survived. He's recuperating on our ship, back at the Jedi Enclave. What does the crystal do?"

"I am unsure of its effect. Zete, do you know?"

"The Solari crystal was well documented in ancient Jedi lore. Since the Jedi Archives were closed to all non-Jedi, I am unable to ascertain its exact effect. But it was rumored to be capable of making a very powerful lightsaber, but one that could only be wielded by a Jedi, and not a Sith. I assume, of course, that you intend to use it as a lightsaber crystal."

"Yes. I intend to rebuild my lightsabers. And I think I finally have all the parts to do it. I got crystals to make two blades. A phrik shell, easily disguised as a stun stick. One shorter than the other, that's the style I trained with. I never studied saber staff style, but I'm a fast learner. Two diatium power cells, one for each saber. All I need is a pair of negative resonance rings and some basic parts that I'm willing to bet are here on the ship."

Xho clicked, "If you have any need of assistance with mechanical matters, Zete and I are both experts on the subject."

"I may take you up on that," she said, as the navigation console started beeping. She turned the pilot's seat back around and took the controls. "That's the autopilot, we're at the dig site. I've got to set us down."

The ship had one of the smoothest, most responsive yokes she'd ever used. And she was used to flying top of the line military craft. The Inquisitor had apparently spared no expense.

Ahsoka locked down the console and turned off the engines. She turned the chair around again and said, "All right. Last stop on the Inquisitor Express. Nat, Xho, I'm sure the Captain will offer both of you a bunk on the Red Drexl. Zete, I'm sure you can at least get a comfortable recharge socket somewhere. As for what we're going to do with this ship... well, it's way to valuable to give up. And way too traceable to leave here. We'll have to figure something out."

As Ahsoka led them out of the ship, she heard Zete's voice from behind her, "Were you serious about the recharge socket? I have been running on reserve power for several days now."

As soon as Ahsoka stepped out into the sunlight, the ramp on the Red Drexl lowered, and Arc and Jyssa stepped out. "You okay, kid?" asked Jyssa.

"Never better. The galaxy is one Inquisitor short. Captain Motla, Arc, meet Nat Tina and Xho Fik'ta." She glanced back and added, "Oh, and ZT-47."

"Hello," said the tablet in Xho's hand.

Jyssa blinked and turned to Arc. "Did that computer just say hello?"


	15. Chapter 15 - Location

**Chapter 15**

_Location_

"So, I've got an idea of how to deal with the Whipclaw," Ahsoka said, "I think we should stash it. Keep it in a safe place, easy to get to. It's not safe to sell it. An Inquisitor's ship goes up for sale, and the Inquisitor isn't around... that's gonna draw attention."

The group was sitting on the crumbling stone remains of benches in what was once the meditation grove in the Jedi Enclave. Jyssa sat cross-legged on a boulder that may have once been part of a short wall or bench, chewing on a piece of sweetreed. Nat had his own half a bench next to her. To the right was one remaining solid bench, where Arc, ZT-47 and Xho sat. Xho was, under ZT-47's cautious direction, helping to connect a very basic prosthetic hand to Arc's stump of a right arm. It didn't have much fine motor control, but at least now he'd be able to hold a glow rod and a blaster at the same time.

Jyssa took the honeyroot out of her mouth. "Well, it's a little too big to mate up with the Red Drexl when we're flying around. So we'll have to have somebody pilot it out of here. And I'm not sure I'm ready to give up my mechanic."

Ahsoka smiled and said, "I'm not sure I'm ready to give up my bunk. The Whipclaw has held a few too many prisoners. It's got kind of a... bad aftertaste in the Force. But, it can still be useful. It's powerful. Armed to the teeth. It has permission to go just about anywhere and its transponder has codes that will demand cooperation from any Imperial government agency. Not to mention that L'Larr had files and contacts that could help lead us to other Jedi. And a bounty hunter's license, and Inquisitor status. Using that ship, we can pose as bounty hunters or Inquisitors and help rescue untold numbers of Jedi from actual bounty hunters and Inquisitors. Not to mention that L'Lar also had several false identities ready for insertion into Imperial databanks. Looking at some of his lists of contacts and informants, it looks like his usual MO is to find some underworld scumbag who is in trouble with the wrong people, give them a new identity and then instead of demanding payment, he uses them as informers."

"Sounds too good to"–Arc winced as Xho tightened something in his mechanical hand– "ow. Too good to pass up. The problem is, where can we stash it?"

Jyssa said, "We can't leave it here. And you'll need to do something about his body, make sure its untraceable."

"Yeah, I hate to do something that dangerous, but I think I'll need to head back to Sandrale City with something flammable and light that dumpster on fire. It's probably the best way to hide the body."

"It occurs to me," said Arc, "that at some point, I'm going to need a full name. A real name. Might as well use one of those fake identities for me."

Ahsoka nodded, "There were a few that didn't have names attached yet. Let me know when you pick something."

"Nobody else here picked their own name. I got mine from my brothers, when they saw me in action."

Jyssa said, "How about... Bryn. My parents said that if they ever had a boy, they'd name him Bryn."

"I don't really look Corellian, I don't think."

"You don't sound it, either. But it's not a traditional Corellian name. I think it was the name of a holodrama actor my mom had a crush on when she was your age. Bryn Arc. I think it sounds good."

"Well, that works for me."

Ahsoka nodded. "I'll take care of it. You'll be in the system before we get to Rudrig. I can set your home planet to Rudrig, you can get ID when you're there. Since everyone's switching over to Imperial systems, it won't be too hard to get a new ID and just claim that you misplaced your old one. I'll probably do the same. Nat, your first name is common enough that you can keep it, but we'll need a new last name for you."

"It's okay. I'm not too attached to it. Don't you need a new name too?"

"Yeah, I do. And I'll need a bounty hunter persona too, if I want to take Jedi hunting missions. I've been looking over some old Togruta myths and legends, looking for a good name. I'll come up with one before we leave for Rudrig. But we still need to come up with a good place to stash the Whipclaw."

A timid voice came from behind the group, "Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear." The Alderaanian student who had helped find the holocron containing the memories of Jedi Master Zhar Lestin stood in the doorway to the meditation garden. "My third year geology internship involved taking scanner readings of several small asteroids near Rudrig."

Ahsoka turned to him, "You found something useful there?"

"Yes. In my internship I found an asteroid that had been used as a mining base a long time ago. At least a hundred years. It was hollowed out, and it had solar heat recycling generating power to keep the air inside fresh, even after so long. And when I looked up old navcom codes from that era, I found that the hangar bay doors still worked. The hangar was big enough for mining ships, your Baudo class should fit in there easily."

"First you find me a holocron, then you find me a secret asteroid base. In all my years of Jedi training, no one ever told me how useful a degree in Geology could be."

He blushed, "Well, I don't have my degree yet. I still have to finish my thesis."

"Well, if you need any held finding strange and interesting gemstones to study for your thesis, I may have some insider knowledge to share about jedi lightsaber crystals. It's the least I could do."

"Actually... there is more that you can do." He looked down at the ground. She could feel his hesitation through the Force, but she couldn't tell why. "When I was eight, my parents had another child. A little sister. She was the best little sister anyone could ever have. Bright. Curious. Somehow she always managed to do things, even when she was a toddler. Cookies went missing from the top shelf. Doors that we swore we locked got unlocked. Eventually we found out why. When she was four, she was tested by a Jedi, a Caamasi named Ylenic It'Kla. She was strong in the Force. My parents decided it was best to send her away to the Jedi Academy. She'd be fifteen now. My parents knew that we couldn't be close to her anymore, she needed to have no connections. But they remained in contact with It'Kla. He would tell us how she was progressing. How she was doing."

The young man lowered his head and covered his face with his hand. Ahsoka couldn't tell if tears were coming from his eyes, but in the Force, his pain was obvious. "I will do whatever I can to find out what happened to her."

"She was fifteen years old. Fighting in a war. Her name was... is still, I hope, Mirian Varos. Last time my family talked to Master It'Kla, she was on a mission near Susevfi."

Ahsoka stood up, walked over to him. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Well then, I know where to go immediately after Rudrig."


	16. Chapter 16 - Labor

**Chapter 16**

_Labor_

_There is no emotion, there is peace._

Ahsoka used Force-enhanced strength to lift the last crate onto the repulsorlift, then she let the Bith archeology student push it up the ramp of the Red Drexl. "Well, that's it. As soon as the last crates are secured, we're ready to go."

"Fly safe, kid." Jyssa gave Ahsoka a brief one-armed hug. "We'll see you on Rudrig."

"Just don't break anything. I won't be on board to fix it for this trip."

They boarded the ships, and one at a time, the ships lifted off. Freshly dug up dirt from the ancient Jedi Enclave whipped across the landscape under the ship's repulsorlifts. At one time, thousands of Jedi had trod upon this land. Then, in a blaze of fire from the skies, the Sith had laid waste to what was once a peaceful place of training, learning, and meditation.

Ahsoka looked below her through the windscreen of the Whipclaw. No matter how much destruction had taken place there, she had trained, learned, and meditated there herself. She understood why the ancient Jedi had decided to build their Enclave there.

She followed the Red Drexl up through the atmosphere of Dantooine, eventually passing through the clouds and into the twinkling skies of the galaxy itself. Then, with a streak of starlight, her ship jumped into the roiling violet clouds of hyperspace.

_There is no ignorance, there is knowledge._

The flight was going to take some time. Ahsoka left the cockpit and headed back towards the engine room. The hiss of an arc welder could be heard from several meters away. As she entered the room, she grabbed a pair of darkly polarized goggles off of a nearby rack and put them on.

"How are the modifications going?"

"Ah! Ahsoka, I am afraid you startled me. Please announce your presence when I am using a welder. Very hot. Very dangerous."

"My apologies, Xho."

"Apologies accepted. I have finished modifying the connection between the two halves. It will release much quicker now, and the diatium power cells are self contained in each half. Once reconnected, however, their power flow will balance out. This means that if one saber has lost its charge, it can share the charge with its mate."

"That could come in handy."

"Yes, I believe it will. Useful modification. I have just finished carving out a channel for the saber blade on both the ends of the stun stick body. With a little bit of polish, it should look like it was designed that way to begin with. I am nothing if not precise."

Ahsoka put her hand on his leathery shoulder "If I needed precision, I'd get a droid to mill it down. I asked you to do it because I think the Force led me to you. I trust you to help me do this right."

"I hope your trust is well founded, Ahsoka."

_There is no passion, there is serenity._

The Red Drexl was waiting for Ahsoka when she dropped the Whipclaw out of hyperspace. Her comm unit crackled, and Jyssa's voice came through, "Glad to see you're still with us. Varos has programmed the trajectory of his asteroid base into my navicomputer, I'm transmitting its current coordinates now."

A set of coordinates came through a moment later, and both ships turned towards it. The coordinates appeared to be in a small cluster of ore-rich asteroids in a Lagrange point running behind the rotation of Rudrug. In a ship as fast as the Whipclaw, it was no more than an hour's sublight travel from Rudrig.

"Setting course now."

"Varos said that it's at the back end of the asteroid cluster, so it's fairly safe to approach. Still, keep your shields up and be careful. This isn't as dense as an asteroid belt, but there's always the chance that a piece of debris will slip past your sensors. And then, if you're unlucky, it'll slip through your cockpit too."

"I'll keep an eye out. Whipclaw out."

"See you there. Red Drexl out."

_There is no chaos, there is harmony._

Sure enough, the docking codes worked. The massive durasteel doors slid open, and Ahsoka flew the Whipclaw inside. She already had most everything she needed packed away in a bag. As she lowered the ramp, Xho handed her the last element she needed. What was once a tool used by a slaver and bounty hunter was no going to be turned into a weapon of justice.

With nothing more than a few days worth of rations, water, and the parts she needed to construct her lightsaber, she walked down the ramp. The air here was temperate, whatever power systems kept the environmental units running were still working well after being abandoned for so long.

The asteroid had practically no gravity. Static charges were more likely to hold her to the floor than gravity would. She kicked off and floated to the nearest door. It opened with a groan. After stepping through, she found herself in a control room. Through the windows, she waved to Xho. He triggered the bay doors, and took the ship out. Her comm beeped.

"We will return in a few days. As soon as we have the students and their archeology finds returned to their proper place, and we get the ID cards for Arc and Nat, we will be back for you."

"I'll do my best to finish before you get back. May the Force be With You, Xho."

She heard his mandibles click over the comlink, "You have saved my life, freed me, and saved my sanity. I will repay you however I can. Any grace I garner from the Force, I give freely to you."

"Thank you, Xho. I just might need it."

The bay doors closed.

"We will return soon. Whipclaw out."

_There is no death, there is the Force._

Ahsoka sat, cross-legged, hovering loosely above the deck. Next to her was the holocron, with Master Lestin's holographic image watching over her. Floating around her were the parts for her lightsabers.

With her eyes closed, she meditated. Reaching out through the Force, she could feel the lightsaber crystals. But that wasn't enough. She meditated. For how long, she couldn't tell.

One by one, each part became clear in the Force. She knew how her lightsaber would work. She knew how the energy would focus through. She knew how the negative flow couplings would direct the energy. As she worked, and as the Force worked through her, she discovered that adding a coil of magnetic wire in the right place would change the function of one of her sabers.

When she was ready, she began to assemble the pieces.

One by one, the blazing swords of light came together. Bit by bit, every piece served a function. And every piece came together as one. When it was done, she plugged her lightsaber into a small portable generator. Through the Force, she could feel the energy filling the diatium power cells. She could feel the Force flowing through everything.

And then, it was done. To the rest of the galaxy she would be Riella Masso, part time starship mechanic, part time bounty hunter. But to herself, her friends, and the Force, she would always be Ahsoka Tano, Jedi Knight.


	17. Chapter 17 - Shipment

Previously on Star Wars: Exile's Journey

Ahsoka Tano has retaken the mantle of Jedi. Braving several challenges, and risking her own life repeatedly for her friends, she earned the materials necessary to rebuild her lightsabers.

With crystals found in an ancient cave on Dantooine, a saber hilt made of lightsaber-resistant phrik alloy, a deep space asteroid hideout discovered by a young man who asked Ahsoka to help find his missing sister, and a ship taken from an Imperial Inquisitor who Ahsoka defeated in combat, Ahsoka Tano is ready to take on whatever challenges lie ahead...

**Chapter 17**

_Shipment_

She activated her new sabers as one. In front of her floated a double sided saber, one side had a broad, flattened green blade with a faint yellow-orange halo of light around it. The other had a bright blue blade, very different from the yellow blade she used to wield in her off hand. She grasped the hilt and noticed that at the slightest movement, faint arcs of purple electrical currents flowed from the corona of the blue blade.

Ahsoka Tano, Jedi Knight, stood up with her double sided lightsaber in hand. "Well, I guess it's time to test the modifications," she said, and she twisted the hilt. The blades separated into two, and, just as she'd hoped, when they separated the blue blade shrunk down to just over half the length of the other. She held them in an underhanded grip, then kicked off from the ground. In the low gravity, she soared across the room. Old trained motions were easily remembered as she went through practice motions. Djem So techniques weren't quite as effective in low gravity, but Shien techniques were fairly universal.

"It is good to see you back with us, Mistress Jedi," came a voice from below her.

Ahsoka spun in the low gravity, suddenly feeling a little queasy from the sudden motion. She turned her sabers off and grabbed at an old shelf on the wall to steady herself. Amidst the old consoles and shelves she saw a shiny, new tablet. "Who... oh, ZT-49. Where did you come from?"

"Master Xho left me here and requested that I alert him when you awoke. You have been in deep meditation for quite some time."

"But Xho didn't come in here at all."

"Master Xho and I flew to Rudrig, and have returned with the Red Drexl and your other compatriots. It has been slightly over three standard days since we left you here."

Ahsoka reattached her sabers and put them on her belt. Suddenly, her eyes went wide. "Are both the ships right outside in the hangar? Of course they are. Gotta go!"

She kicked off from the wall at full speed and shot towards the door. With a few swift kicks, and some judicious help with the Force, she sped past Jyssa and Arc up the ramp of the nearest ship, which happened to be the Drexl. As soon as she hit the ship's gravity field, her feet hit the ground and she bolted down the corridor at full speed.

Arc turned to Jyssa, "Was that Ahsoka?"

"Get used to calling her Riella in public. And yes, that was Ahsoka. She's been meditating for three days."

"Where is she..." Arc trailed off as he saw her turn down the corridor. "Oh."

"Yeah. Three days. In a place where the plumbing probably doesn't work anymore." Jyssa shook her head. "Jedi. Go figure. Can save the galaxy a dozen times over... but they get so caught up in what they're doing that they forget to take a 'fresher break."

Nat floated down from above the ship and grabbed on to one of the ramp's support struts, "Was that Ahsoka?"

Jyssa sighed, "Remember to call her Riella now. And yes. She's in the 'fresher."

Jyssa pulled out a small datapad and tapped on the screen. Patiently waiting for Ahsoka, she pulled up several lists of information that she knew Ahsoka would want to see once more pressing matters were taken care of. A moment later, Jyssa heard a familiar gurgle in the ship's pipes.

"Running water. At least Jedi wash their hands afterwards."

Ahsoka came out of the refresher, "I heard that!" she said indignantly down the corridor.

Arc gave a grin with the unscarred half of his face, "Jedi have good hearing too."

"Stow it, Bryn. You need food, kid? Your pack looked pretty untouched. Only one bottle of water emptied and most of the food was still there."

"Yeah... and a sanisteam. Was I really out for three days?"

"A little more than that, yeah. What were you doing the whole time?"

"I don't know how to describe it. Meditating doesn't cover it. It was like my new sabers and I were joining together in the Force."

Jyssa shook her head, "Your Force stuff is beyond my feeble non-Jedi comprehension, kid. I just want to know that you're okay."

Ahsoka laughed, "I will be, after a sanisteam and some food."

"Food first. I've got some things to show you."

They headed towards the ship's tiny kitchen area and Ahsoka pulled a couple of frozen nerf patties out of the freezer and put them on the minigrill. "This will take a minute. What do you have?"

Jyssa showed Ahsoka her datapad. "The good news is I managed to find some cargo that needed shipping to Susevfi. It's headed to Yumfla, the capital city there." Jyssa swiped the tablet and moved to the next page she'd pulled up. "The bad news: There's also a bounty out for a supposed Jedi there. Not much info, just that several people have been found injured or killed by a what appears to be a lightsaber blade. And several people have been killed by... other means. Choking, blunt force trauma, or severe burns. But with no marks from weapons."

"Well, then this looks like a job for Riella Masso, bounty hunter."

Jyssa nodded, "We'll have to take separate ships. It'll look a little weird for a bounty hunter to show up on a freighter."

"How's the Whipclaw's fuel?"

"Full. Turns out that being an Inquisitor gives you a free account at any Imperial refueling station. Xho had them fill it up when he landed. I may take advantage of that and siphon some off of your tank every now and then."

"Feel free. It's on the Empire's tab. So what's the plan?"

"Well, the shipment will be ready to be picked up in two days. We weren't sure how long you'd be out, so we set up an appointment for Arc to stop by a medical facility to be fitted for a proper prosthetic. We'll have to leave in a couple hours to get back to Rudrug in time for that. If you want to go ahead by yourself as a bounty hunter, then feel free. If not, we'll leave in two days."

"I probably should. You're okay with keeping an eye on Nat without me?"

"We've done okay so far. The kid's bright. A little too bright. Don't play sabacc against him. It's a good thing I don't gamble against kids, otherwise I might not have a ship anymore."

"After this and a sanisteam, I'll head out. I don't want to keep you too long."

"Actually, there's one more thing before you go. Xho is in the Whipclaw, working on something. He wanted to show it to you before we left."

Ahsoka pulled a plate out of a cabinet and a couple of buns out of another. Using the Force, she lifted the now well done nerf patties onto the buns. She poured a large dollop of mysk sauce onto each one.

Jyssa made a face. "How can you eat it like that? You've got more sauce than patty."

The young Jedi bit into the patty, mysk sauce dripping out the back of it. She said, with her mouth full, "Irf irt's nort bleerding, therre's nort enourgh myrsk saurce."

* * *

_Author's note: If you hadn't been able to tell by now, I seem to have fallen into a writing habit based on the pace of the Clone Wars series. Probably just a subconscious side effect of me making Ahsoka the main character of the fic. :P Every four chapters is about the length of an episode, and so far both the story arcs have been two episode arcs. I'm not sure if I'll stick with that length, or if they'll vary in the future. But since I'm preparing to try to write a full novel for NaNoWriMo (national novel writing month) in November, I will be slowing my pace a bit. I will try to post a minimum of one episode (e.g. four chapters) a week. If I can write more than that, then I will keep those saved to post during November when I'll be busy writing my novel. It'll be a swashbuckling pirate themed action/adventure story, with a bit more action and less character driven plot than I've put into this story so far. Still, I'm enjoying writing something with an ensemble cast like this, so I'm using some of what I've learned by writing this fic in my planning for my book. Hope everybody is enjoying this fic so far, I'm certainly enjoying writing it. :) And it's hard to see in the thumbnail, but as of the posting of this chapter, I did update the thumbnail picture to show the correct lightsaber colors. There's a hint of yellow/orange in the green saber, and the short one is blue now instead of yellow, with trails of purple ionized plasma around it. E.g., little crackles of lightning. Just like a Bondar crystal aughtta do.  
_


	18. Chapter 18 - Bounty Hunter

**Chapter 18**

_Bounty Hunter_

"This should hide your identity well enough, as well as provide a basic amount of protection," said Xho Fk'ta as he handed Ahsoka an armored mask. "I have modified materials here in the ship, as well as incorporated some of the technology from your friend Bryn Arc's damaged ARC trooper helmet. He can teach you how to control the displays with eye motions and blinks should you choose to use that method."

"That might take a while to get used to." Ahsoka turned the mask over in her hands. It looked a lot more scary than she was used to, with a T-shaped visor obviously salvaged from Arc's helmet, but instead of the blue and white plasteel that normally made up the face, there was a dull, blank durasteel instead. "I'm going to look like a wannabe Mandalorian wearing this."

"Possible. This is for when you choose to take on bounty hunting missions. Riella Masso may earn a reputation for herself." He handed her a bracer. "This also has control functions for the Whipclaw's systems as well as your helmet displays, so you need not use eye motions unless you choose to. It also has a single-shot spread of shock darts, I salvaged the projector from L'Larr's shock net rifle. The armor piece was too small to fit the entire shock net inside, so I adapted it. It should prove capable of at least stunning any opponent in close range, even other Jedi."

"I'm amazed that you managed to get this much done. Thank you, Xho."

Xho clicked his mandibles together. "I owe you my freedom and my life. And you dedicate yourself to helping find and save others. Even though I may never be able to repay you, I can at least choose to follow your example and do what I can to help those in need. The best way to do that in these tumultuous times is to help you do what you do better. You may want to paint the mask to match whatever persona you choose for Riella as a bounty hunter. I am familiar with the technology used by both ARC Troopers and Republic Commandos, and I have modified the visor to incorporate both. Which means that it will have a faint blue glow when activated. You may want to take that into account when you decorate it."

At this point Ahsoka was getting used to Xho's rapid speech and occasional non-sequiturs. "I'll do that. Since I can't hide my montrals, maybe I should go with something that looks like another Togruta's facial markings. Make people think I look completely different."

"Perhaps. For now, Jedi Tano, I am afraid that I will not have time for lessons on your helmet's controls. I must leave with the Red Drexl to assist with Bryn Arc's new prosthesis. We will see you on Susevfi soon. I must retrieve ZT-47 and board the Red Drexl."

"Thank you, Xho. This makes my job a lot easier. And you're right, this work you've done may save the lives of many innocent people, bystanders and hunted alike."

He nodded to her and walked towards the Whipclaw's ramp. Ahsoka inspected the inside of the mask. It looked like it was made to seal against her face, and there were sturdy straps that went around her head. She tried it on, and found that her hearing felt enhanced, while her sense of smell felt like it was mostly gone. The mask seemed to have air filters, which could be handy when dealing with smoke or poison gases. It also seemed to have hearing enhancement, as she found that she could hear the small sounds of Xho's leathery feet walking down the ship's ramp, along with the faint capacitance hum of the magnetic clamps holding the ship to the deck in the low gravity.

"Time to pick a paint job. What's the last thing Jedi Ahsoka Tano would want on a face mask? And the first thing that bounty hunter Riella Masso would want?" Ahsoka asked herself as she removed the mask and turned it over in her hand. "I've got a long hyperspace jump ahead of me before I get there."

The first thought that entered her mind was to copy the fierce tattoos of Savage Opress, or Darth Maul, the Zabrak Sith Lords. Or maybe paint it bronze, and decorate it to look like the mask of Mandalore the Ultimate from history.

"No, I don't want to copy someone else. I need to make Riella Masso work for me," Ahsoka said as she turned the mask over in her hands. Still thinking, she headed towards the cockpit to start warming up the engines.

A few minutes later the Whipclaw was underway to Susevfi.

Once the ship was safely in hyperspace, Ahsoka returned to the engine room and started laying down blocking tape on the mask. It took most of the trip, but by the time the ship was ready to revert out of hyperspace, the mask was done.

"It's not a masterpiece, but I think it'll do."

Staring back at her was the mask, no longer dull metal. Now it was a pattern of violet, red and blue. She'd copied the scale pattern from a predator on Onderon, the Dxunian Stalker. It seemed appropriate to take her mask design from a predator that was normally orange and red, and modify it to match the colors of the glowing blue visor of the helmet that she wore as a disguise. This was Riella Masso, bounty hunter.

She held up a shiny piece of scrap metal and looked at her distorted image. It was easy to shift her thinking, her mannerisms. Just think in purples and blues instead of oranges and reds. Ahsoka was orange. Riella was blue. Complete opposites.

Ahsoka headed back up to the cockpit, and found herself adopting a bit of a swagger to her walk that she'd never had before. After spending a year working closely with a cocky Corellian pilot, however, imitating that kind of attitude came pretty easily.

Ahsoka sat down in the pilot's seat. She found that the heads up displays in her mask were distracting at first, but once she dropped out of hyperspace, the display automatically linked up with the ship's computer and started relaying course information.

"Useful," she said, "I'll just have to try to get used to it."

She heard a soft sound behind her, a slight creak of leather shifting.

"I wondered when you were going to come out of hiding. You know you really should have stayed with Jyssa and the Drexl."

"Aw man, you knew I was here? I thought I did a good job of hiding myself," Nat said from the gunner's chair.

"You did. If I'd known you were here before I jumped to hyperspace, I would have turned right around and dropped you off back at the asteroid base." Ahsoka turned the pilot's seat around, and Nat gasped when he saw the intimidating scale patterned mask and blue T-visor instead of her familiar face. "I'm on a mission that might end up being dangerous. Coming along like this was reckless, and maybe dangerous."

"I've managed to survive this long. I'm not a youngling, I'm a Padawan! I came in third in the sparring competition last year. I'm not afraid."

Under the mask, Ahsoka smiled.

"You will be, little one. You will be." She turned the pilot's seat around and locked it back into flight position. "There's no Jedi council left to tell us what to do. We have to learn to trust ourselves, our training, and most importantly, the Force."

"I've spent the last couple weeks just trying to survive. I need to do what a Padawan does... otherwise I don't feel like a Jedi at all."

"You're reckless, little one. You know, you never would have made it as Obi-Wan's Padawan." She flipped a set of switches, preparing to pull the ship out of hyperspace. "But you just might make it as mine."


	19. Chapter 19 - Yumfla

**Chapter 19**

_Yumfla_

Davin Portrallis threaded his way through the crowd. One by one, he picked out individuals who were distracted or simply had available pockets or purses. His light fingers danced in crowds like these, and every time he came back with something good. Sometimes it was a cred or two. Sometimes it was expensive jewelry. As he brushed his fingers past a stranger's cloak, he felt something much larger. Expensive tools, perhaps. The docks were always a profitable place to pickpocket.

The cloaked figure whirled around and screamed in Davin's face. The long cylindrical tool flew from its belt hook and into the stranger's hand. Before Davin could even think to hide in the crowd, or better yet, just run away from this mad stranger, a beam of shimmering silver light erupted from the cylinder. Davin felt a stinging burn on his forearm, and then something hit him in the chest so hard that he flipped over three other people in the crowd and landed painfully on his back. Gasping through shattered ribs, he watched as the cloaked stranger simply turned around, the silver blade disappearing from sight. Numbly, he looked down at the cauterized stump where his left hand had once been.

A few yelps and shouts could be heard through the crowd, but the cloaked figure disappeared into the mass of people, just as skillfully as Davin himself would have if his attempt at picking the stranger's pocket had gone as planned.

The sun that shone in the sky, and its matching elongated shimmering reflection on the waterfront past the docks went dark as Davin's eyes closed.

When his eyes opened again, he found himself floating. The world around him was blurry and slightly pinkish. Breathing was still difficult, but the pain was much less. Blurry figures could be seen moving in front of him. He reached out and felt warm glass with his right hand.

He was floating in water. In a tube. His mind cleared, and he remembered what happened. A lightsaber. His arm.

His arm.

Davin Portrallis looked down, and through the murky pink bacta, he could see the stub of a forearm, sealed with some kind of plastic.

The water and bacta began to drain out of the tank. Davin felt himself being pulled up and out of the tank. He couldn't see what was lifting him up and out of the tank, but it set him down gently onto a bunk next to the bacta tank. A horned Devaronian doctor, the lower half of his face covered by a face mask, removed the breathing mask from Davin's face and held a metal sensor against his neck.

"Vital signs seem good. His ribs are mostly mended. Nurse, take him to Recovery," the doctor lowered his mask and gave Davin a toothy grin, "You'll be all right, son. By the cold, if we hadn't gotten to you in time you would have choked to death on your own ribs."

Davin coughed, and the sickly sweet scent of bacta filled his nose. "My hand..."

The doctor put his hand on Davin's shoulder, "I'm sorry, lad. The wound was cauterized. The hand couldn't be reattached."

The nurse took over and guided the repulsor gurney out of the room. Davin watched the lights on the ceiling go by until the nurse brought him into a turbolift. Another set of lights went by, until he found his gurney being parked in a small hospital room.

"I'll call an orderly to help move you to your bed," the nurse said, then turned around to walk out the door, "Who are you?"

Davin heard a calm voice say, "I am here to move the patient to his bed."

"You're here to move the patient to his bed," repeated the nurse.

"You should go about your business," the calm voice said.

"I should go about my business."

The nurse left, and a moment later Davin felt himself floating off of the gurney and onto the bed. "I am sorry if this causes more trauma, but in order to prevent more attacks like what happened to you, I must ask you about what you remember from the day you were attacked."

Davin turned to look at the speaker. A tan, furry face looked back at him. "Are you a police officer?"

"No, but I seek to stop the innocent from being harmed. And I have the means to do so." The alien had three black stripes running along the top of his head, and a pink triangular snout.

"You're a Caamasi, aren't you."

The alien nodded, "Yes, I am."

"I think... I think it was a Jedi that did this to me."

"You were most certainly attacked by a lightsaber. The wounds caused by such a weapon are relatively unique. Unfortunately, with so few Jedi in the galaxy, and so many of them on the run, it will be difficult to find your attacker. I would like for you to tell me everything that happened that day. Any detail may help in finding your attacker."

"I... I don't know if I want to talk about it. I'm still a little fuzzy on what happened. One minute I was walking along, minding my own business," Davin wasn't technically lying, as picking pockets was his business, "and the next minute I saw a blade of silver light, and I went flying. Without my hand. And with a lot of broken ribs."

"Silver light? Are you sure?"

Davin looked back up at the lights in the ceiling, then nodded, "Yes. I'd never seen anything like it. At first I just thought it was a hydrospanner or something. Then... silver light."

The Caamasi shook his head and looked down, "This knowledge is somewhat disturbing. Thank you for your honesty. Please, in the future, do not place your remaining hand needlessly into the pockets of others."

Davin blinked, and looked over at the alien. "How did you..."

The Caamasi stood up and turned to the window, "As for you, young one, there is no need to hide."

A young Togruta wearing an armored face mask stepped out from behind a curtain. She pointed a stun stick at the Caamasi and in a gravelly, robotic voice she said, "I came here to ask him a few questions about his attack. I didn't think I'd have to defend him. I don't know who you are, but I can see the lightsaber on your belt and feel your strength in the Force. If you're here to finish the job, then I'm here to stop you."

"Please, Padawan Tano, there's no need for violence. I suspect that we are here for the same reasons."

The Togruta raised her mask. "How did you know it was me? And who are you?"

The Caamasi bowed his head graciously, "I must admit, I am somewhat offended that you do not remember me. We may not have officially been introduced, but we did live in the Temple together for several years. Perhaps we should continue this conversation elsewhere, away from prying eyes." He gestured to the window, and the curtains pulled back to reveal the open pane that Ahsoka Tano had used to silently climb into the room. He turned to Davin. "Thank you for your assistance. I promise, we will do everything we can to ensure that no one else has to suffer what you have gone through."

And as Davin watched, the two strangers leapt out of the fourth story window, and out of his life.


	20. Chapter 20 - Madness

**Chapter 20**

_Madness_

Mirian Varos ran as fast as she could. She had to outrun the monster. The creature that wielded the Force and her lightsaber, the creature who she saw tear apart living beings as if they were nothing.

The creature who wallowed in the dark side of the Force.

* * *

Ahsoka Tano tapped a button on her wrist computer. She was transmitting an audio-only feed to her new, albeit unofficial Padawan. She could feel him in the Force, following from a distance, unsure of why she left the hospital with a strange Caamasi in tow.

The Caamasi walked beside Ahsoka, his hands clasped together inside the broad sleeves of his turquoise robe. And while the robe, with its bright color, and its gold and purple trim, didn't look anything like the plain brown Jedi robes Ahsoka was used to, the man wearing it showed every sign of a Jedi Master's calm demeanor and poise. As the two got closer to the docks, and the crowds grew thicker, he said to Ahsoka, "My name is Ylenic It'kla."

"How did you recognize me? I thought my disguise was pretty good."

"I'm sure it was. But it was not with sight or the Force that I recognized you, Padawan. We Caamasi have a strong sense of smell, and even though you have grown from a child to a young woman, your scent has not changed too much for me to recognize."

"Well, let's hope there aren't any Jedi hunters out there who know my smell. Should we really be talking about this in public?"

"On the contrary, in public is the place where we are the least likely to be overheard. In a small crowd, it's hard not to overhear bits of conversations. Walking through a thick crowd like this, it's hard to hear more than a word or two. And far easier to dismiss those words. I have brought you here because the docks here are the site of several of the recent lightsaber and Force attacks."

"Yeah, I read the reports," said Ahsoka, "and they didn't look pretty. Do you think we have a Jedi who went rogue. Or worse, fell to the dark side?"

"I am afraid it may be so. On my last mission here, I came with two other Masters seeking fallen Jedi. We tracked them an ancient Sith temple outside of the city. We fought, and while one of our own fell, we managed to defeat them. Still, if something as simple as a building with ancient Sith teachings etched onto the walls was enough to corrupt the mind and spirit of three Jedi, there is no telling what once frightened Padawan may do."

"A Padawan? I read the report, the people who were hurt through the Force... I don't think a Padawan could be strong enough to do that."

"I didn't either. But the young man in the hospital told me that the lightsaber had a silver blade. I only know of two Jedi who wielded lightsabers that used a durindfire crystal who have ever visited this planet. The last time I left this planet, I took one of those lightsabers with me to return to the Jedi Order. I returned to search for the owner of the other, a missing apprentice by the name of Mirian Varos."

"I hope you're wrong. Because I came here to find Varos. She has family back on Alderaan who want to know that she's safe," said Ahsoka.

"I hope that I am wrong as well. I've known Mirian since she was a small child. My relationship to her was much like the relationship between you and Master Plo Koon. I found her, brought her to the temple. The Jedi may forbid attachment, but when you bring a small child into your world you can't help but care what happens to her." He shook his head. "I can't imagine that she would fall to the dark side. But perhaps there is something about this place, something that can corrupt. If so, then perhaps she can be taken away from it."

"I hope you're right."

"There is another topic I would like to discuss with you, Padawan Tano. But first, duty calls." Ylenic shifted the direction he was walking through the crowd, leading Ahsoka to an alley between two refrigerated warehouses. "In spite of the rather strong scent of fish here, I can smell faint traces of Mirian. I will stay low, if you will take the higher road."

Ahsoka tightened her face mask and said, "No problem." Taking care to hide her true Force-enhanced athletic abilities, she scaled the wall of the building using as little Force power as possible. When she reached the roof, she said into her comlink, "Nat, I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but stay back and be my eyes and ears just in case."

A text of "sure thing" popped up on the heads up display in Ahsoka's mask. Ahsoka ran across the roof to cover the other end of the alley, and she saw Ylenic walk into the alley.

* * *

Mirian had lost the monster. She didn't know where it had gone. There were too many people, there was too much. Her senses were dulled from lack of sleep. She didn't know where the monster was. She didn't know what he was doing with her lightsaber. All she knew was that she'd found a quiet place, a place in shadows. A place to hide.

And then, she heard her name. Spoken aloud for the first time in weeks.

She panicked.

* * *

"Mirian, I know that you are here. I can feel that you are tired, and afraid. You know me. You know that I will not hurt you." Ylenic It'Kla sat down in the middle of the alley. "Please, speak with me."

Ahsoka saw a trash can wobble, then a small figure darted out from behind it, knocking it over. Ahsoka leapt, kicking off from wall to wall until she hit the ground at the other end of the alley. She could see now that the figure was a girl, no bigger than she was. Bedraggled, malnourished, and as It'Kla had said, resonating fear in the Force. The girl took one look at Ahsoka's masked face and screamed, falling backwards.

"Stay away! Stay away! No more monsters! No more!" she cried as she crawled backwards away from Ahsoka.

"Grife, I forgot about that," Ahsoka said as she lifted her mask. "I don't know if you remember me. I'm Ahsoka Tano. You were in the Youngling class right after mine a few years ago."

The girl kept crawling backwards, still afraid. "No more monsters... please... make it stop... make it stop hurting people..."

As she crawled away, Ahsoka couldn't help but notice one more detail. The girl's belt clip where a lightsaber should be hanging from was empty.

* * *

_Author's note: Ack, forgot to edit out my notations for line breaks. Fixed now. :P Hopefully the next episode/set of 4 chapters will be ready by Sunday or Monday._


	21. Chapter 21 - Healing

Previously on Star Wars: Exile's Journey

Ahsoka Tano has started living a dual life. With a public identity of Riella Masso, a bounty hunter who wears a mask painted in a fierce reptilian scale pattern, and the private identity of Ahsoka Tano, Jedi Knight, she intends to use her bounty hunter persona to find a way into the center of action, and more importantly, to follow up leads that other hunters may use to find hidden Jedi.

After being asked by a student at the university of Rudrug to help find his missing sister, a Jedi Padawan named Mirian Varos, she discovered that at Mirian's last known location, the planet Susevfi, innocent people were being killed by a mad Jedi. Finding another Jedi, a Caamasi named Ylenic It'kla who was also looking for Mirian, the two discover that the unique silvery sheen of the lightsaber used could only belong to Mirian herself...

**Chapter 21**

_Healing_

Mirian Varos scrabbled backwards awkwardly, scraping her hands against the rough ground and leaving a few drops of blood from her palms on the pavement of the alley. "I don't want people to get hurt! I don't want people to die! Stay away!"

She felt a hand grasp her shoulder. She shrieked and tried to pull away, but the furry hand on her shoulder was too strong. A soft, calm voice said, "Rest, child. You are safe now."

The words, and more importantly, the calm behind them penetrated the fog around her mind. She knew that voice. She turned to look, and she knew that face. "Master It'kla... I..."

The Caamasi Jedi gently touched her cheek, and even from several meters away Ahsoka felt a surge of calm warmth from him in the Force. Mirian slumped to the ground, limp and unconscious.

"What did you do?" Ahsoka asked.

"I merely attempted to calm her mind so that she was capable of speech. I suspect, however, that she has been awake, alert, and terrified for far too long. Human beings can only go without proper sleep for so long before their minds start to lose coherence. She probably requires sleep far more than anything else. Can we safely return her to your ship without garnering attention?"

Ahsoka nodded and lowered her armored mask to cover her face. "As far as the rest of the galaxy knows, I'm a bounty hunter named Riella Masso. She sure looks like she's been on the run. Nobody would think twice if I dragged her unconscious body back to my ship. I wouldn't complain if you helped, though."

She hadn't learned to read Caamasi expressions yet, but she guessed that the twist of his ears was his equivalent of a smile. "This is something you may have to look into, Padawan Tano, should you choose to pursue this identity further. The ability to drag unconscious bounties back to your ship is probably a prerequisite."

"I'll figure something out," she said as she lifted Mirian with the Force. Ahsoka slid her shoulder under Mirian's and Ylenic did the same on Mirian's other side. "She's pretty light."

"Yes, I fear she may be suffering from malnutrition." Ylenic started walking out of the alley, and Ahsoka matched his pace. "There is something I have been meaning to ask you about since we encountered each other."

"What's that?"

"There is something... different about you. Despite being expelled, rather unfairly, from the Jedi Order some time ago, you have proven beyond any doubt in my mind that you are still, in fact, a Jedi." He shifted the weight of the limp Alderaanian slightly as they walked. "However, when you were at the temple I don't believe I ever heard to you refer to a Jedi as anything other than Master. You have not done so since we met."

Ahsoka was taken aback. "I don't suppose I have."

"I also get the impression," he said, "that referring to you as Padawan does not seem appropriate. Or wise, given the current climate. But that is another matter entirely."

"I'm not sure what to say," Ahsoka said as she readjusted her grip on Mirian's arm. "I suppose... I don't see myself as part of the Order anymore. I am a Jedi. I've always been a Jedi. Now that the Order is gone, it's my duty to stand up and do what Jedi do."

Ylenic nodded, something she could barely see out of her the corner of her eye. She made a mental note to ask Xho to look into ways to enhance the peripheral vision with her mask. "The war forced many young Jedi to grow up too fast. After the debacle when you were falsely accused and expelled from the Jedi order, the Council had considered making you a full Jedi. You would have been one of the youngest in history. Sixteen years old. Padawan to one of the most powerful Jedi in the order, and yet when put through something more trying than most Jedi trials, proven to be more mature and capable than anyone could have ever asked you to be."

"Thanks, I guess." Ahsoka was never really sure how to respond to praise. Humor was a good deflection technique usually, but when walking through a crowded dockside and lugging an unconscious human girl a few years younger than herself, things were just a little too weird and awkward to make any jokes.

"I believe what I am trying to say is this: you are a Jedi. If you choose to take the title of Jedi Knight, I don't think there's another living creature who can argue that you are not. If you choose to simply be, and take the mantle of Jedi, then I don't think that even you can argue that you are not. You walked away when the Jedi Order proved itself to be too fragile to save itself. We who were too mired in tradition could not see that. You left an Order. You never stopped being a Jedi. Titles like Padawan, Knight, or Master belonged to the Order. They belonged to the organization."

They had reached the edge of the docks, and the crowd was thinning out. "I don't think I'm ready to be an Order of one just yet," Ahsoka said.

Ylenic's ears flicked back again, and from what she could feel of him through the Force, it was definitely a smile. "No, but you will always be one of a kind. You may use whatever name you wish, but there will always be a part of you who seeks justice, truth, and seeks to aid those who are in need. As for myself, I will always carry the knowledge of my time in service to the Jedi Order. But the Order is gone, and with it any rank or titles I may have had in it. The greatest trial of any Jedi is to let go of attachment. At the age of sixteen, you did so in a way that the greatest of Masters could not do. Thank you, Ahsoka Tano. Your example has taught me much about what it means to be a Jedi."

Ahsoka was silent for a moment. "Do you think that's what caused the downfall of the Jedi Order? The Jedi had become too attached to the Order itself?"

Ylenic nodded, "It is possible. And likely one of the many causes. However, in our last days the dark side clouded the ability of even the greatest of Masters to see a clear path. The war... the Sith... the failings of the Jedi... the will of the Force. There is rarely a single reason for such momentous changes in the universe. Now, perhaps I should take Mirian so that you have your hands free." Ylenic twisted around and put a hand behind Mirian's knees so that he could pick her up more easily. Ahsoka let go of the young Alderaanian's arm and Ylenic scooped her up easily.

"Why do I need my hands free?"

Her question was answered when she heard the snap and hiss of a lightsaber blade being ignited overhead.

A cloaked figure stood on a rooftop above them, a shining silver blade in hand. "You can't have her!" the man screamed, "You can't take away my soul!"

The few people nearby started panicking and running away. Ahsoka pulled her new lightsabers off of her belt and separated them. The moment the civilians were out of view, she activated them both. "What is it about dark siders? Are they always this weird?"

"It is possible," Ylenic said sagely, "Although to be fair, Jedi are rarely normal when compared to sociological norms."


	22. Chapter 22 - Examination

**Chapter 22**

_Examination_

The cloaked figure shrieked like a vibroshived gornt and leapt off the roof. Ahsoka, worried about letting the Force fueled madman close to Ylenic and Mirian, decided not to wait for him on the ground. She sprung up to meet him in midair, blocking the shining silver blade with her green primary saber. He put all of his strength into the blow, and with his greater mass he caused Ahsoka to spin in midair. She desperately slashed out with her shoto as she spun, singing the back of his cloak. Even though she knew she hadn't actually hit flesh, the man grunted, and when he hit the ground he was clearly off balance. He landed badly, and she could see from here that he'd probably turned his ankle when he landed.

Still, he appeared to be fueled by his out of control emotions. Without wasting a moment, he spun and launched another attack at Ahsoka. This time she caught his blade with both of hers, putting as much strength into the block as possible. He was pushing with all his might, so she pivoted and let his own strength carry him past her. She swing her saber at his back, but this time he caught himself and spun around again in time to block. The two traded blows, but it was clear that no matter how fast and agile Ahsoka was, he was simply powerful enough that he could keep her at bay.

She lashed out with the Force and knocked him back a few feet. He snarled and lunged at her, slashing downwards with all of his weight and muscle behind the blow. Rather than trying to block the strike, Ahsoka used the Force to leap over his head, out of range. While in midair, she turned off her shoto and reconnected her sabers. This was her first time trying this particular fighting style, but the only way she could match his strength was to use the leverage of a two handed grip on the extra long hilt. She landed behind him, holding the blade in a two handed variant of the simple but powerful Makashi style of the dueling masters of old, rather than the quicker Shien and Djem So styles that Ahsoka usually favored.

When he charged again, as she expected he would, she met his blade head on. She held her blade in place and stepped forward, putting her right foot between his. Seeing surprise on her opponent's face, she pivoted on her right foot, whirling around to his side and switching from a straightforward Makashi style defense to her normal quicker Djem So style. Before he could react, she stepped past him and slashed at where his knees were. The moment the saber hilt was out of line with her own body, she activated her second blade. The dark Jedi was quick, quick enough to leap over her blades. But as she swung her blue shoto blade mere centimeters away from him, she saw him spasm as if in pain.

And then she realized what had happened when she singed his cloak earlier. The faint crackles of ionized lightning created by the bondar crystal in her lightsaber had struck him as the blade went by. Once again, she'd caused a muscle spasm at the wrong time when the dark Jedi was in midair, and he landed badly. She spun her sabers, now linked together into a saberstaff, at his partly prone body. The dark Jedi frantically rolled and tried to get up to block the double attack. This time the green blade singed his shoulder, and he screamed. The moment he was out of her range, he leapt up and rather than lunging and attacking her again, Ahsoka felt a sense of unfocused danger in the force, much like she'd felt during the war whenever a large cannon blast or explosive was bout to hit nearby. She spring six meters into the air, just as every bit of loose pavement, garbage can lids, and what looked like a chunk of ferrocrete from a nearby sidewalk all slammed into the wall behind where she'd been standing. The wall buckled from the impact.

Ahsoka didn't even want to imagine what it would have done to her body if she hadn't moved in time. The moment she landed, she lashed out with her double bladed saber. One attack after another. The silver blade in his hand met her green and blue blades repeatedly. And he didn't seem to be tiring. His face screwed up in anger, and for the first time Ahsoka was able to actually look at him and recognize his race. He was a Nikto, the subspecies that had greenish skin and, as her danger sense was warning her, clawed hands. She ducked his claw swipe and tried to return the strike with a double armed pommel strike from her saber. He blocked it on the shimmering silvery blade, and looked shocked that his blade didn't cut right through her hilt.

And then, without warning, the dark Jedi was knocked aside. He tumbled down the street a dozen meters, cursing and screaming. Shocked, Ahsoka looked up to realize that despite the fatigue she felt, it had been less than a minute since the fight started. And it had taken Ylenic that long to find a safe place to set Mirian's unconscious body down.

Now the dark Jedi faced two Jedi. One of whom had been powerful enough to be a candidate for the Jedi Council. Something flashed up on Ahsoka's helmet display, but when she blinked it went away.

The two Jedi faced the madman, neither sure if or when he would strike. He grimaced, and Ahsoka could tell that if he hadn't been breathing so heavily, he probably would have growled at them.

A blast of force energy gathered in his free hand, and he let loose with a fan of jagged blue lightning. Ahsoka caught most of it on her saber blade, but she still wasn't quite used to using the saber staff and she missed a splinter of it. Searing pain hit her in the shoulder, and she dropped that shoulder back, holding her lightsaber in front of her to catch the remainder of the blast. Next to her, without a weapon in hand, Ylenic It'kla had merely held up his hands to stop the Force lightning.

When the dark Jedi stopped his blast, Ylenic returned it. The lightning he had held back turned on its master, and the dark Jedi screamed incoherently. With a massive Force enhanced leap, the Nikto launched himself up to the rooftop above them where he'd come from, then turned and ran.

"He's getting away!" Ahsoka leapt after him. She landed on the roof near where he had, but he was already gone. "Grife, he's quick." She scanned the horizon, but the man was nowhere in sight.

She dropped back down to the street to see Ylenic picking up Mirian.

"Is she all right?"

He slung Mirian picked her up, draping her across his furry arms. "She is fine. Still sleeping. We need to get her to safety, though. I don't know if the Nikto will be able to trace her in the Force or not. I believe that was Kan'to Kree. Many years ago he was a pupil of Nikkos Tyris, which explains his presence here. The lightsaber, however, was not his own. The lightsaber belonged to Mirian."

Ahsoka deactivated her sabers, but kept the hilt in her hand just in case. "My ship is this way. Let's get out of here before anyone else shows up." She blinked, and an icon popped up on her masks' display. She realized that at some point in the fight, she'd received a text message from Nat. Not knowing how to pull it up via ocular controls, she tapped a few buttons on her bracer and it popped up.

_Jysa and the drexl are here she took the elom rift to cut off a fw prsecs_

She shook her head. "I think I have to teach that boy how to type full messages."

"What was that?"

"Good news. My captain just got here. So we've got somebody to guard her while we go hunt down this crazy dark sider. And when we meet up with them, I think you're going to explain what you know about everything that's going on here."

"I think that would be wise."

In the distance Ahsoka heard police sirens heading towards the street where they'd fought the dark Jedi. "If I keep this up, I think I'm going to get very good at nonchalantly vacating crime scenes. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not."


	23. Chapter 23 - Diagnosis

**Chapter 23**

_Diagnosis_

"She's burning up," Jyssa said as she put her hand on Mirian's forehead. "She isn't just tired and malnourished. She's got a krik of a fever."

"I gave her a booster shot and some antibiotics and antivirals. If she's got an infection that should help. But we can't risk bringing her to a hospital. She'll be in their databanks as a Jedi Padawan."

"And look at her hands... the poor girl."

"Yeah, she scraped them up pretty good. I got most of the gravel out. The Force is more accurate than tweezers."

"You should check and see if she's got any other injuries. The fever might be caused by an injury," said Arc, part of his face now covered with a cybernetic replacement for his injured eye and cheekbone. "I'll can leave the room if you need me to."

"No need. I think this medbay has a scanner. Besides, I don't know how much Xho tinkered with your new cybernetics yet. For all I know he gave you X-ray vision." She opened up a cabinet and started rifling through. Eventually she found what she was looking for, a scanner and linked vidscreen. She ran the scanner over Mirian. "Looks like there's definitely a heat source in her shoulder. I think you were right, she's got a bit of shrapnel or something there."

Jyssa pulled Mirian's shirt neck open to expose the shoulder. Sure enough, there was a piece of something shiny sticking through the skin just under her collarbone. Dark veins surrounded the injury. "This doesn't look good. What is it... broken glass maybe?"

"Not sure. I don't like the look of those veins though." She took some higher grade antibiotics and a bacta patch out of the medbay cabinet. She injected the antibiotics into Mirian's deltoid and handed the bacta patch to Jyssa. "I'm going to try to take that shard out. Get ready to staunch the blood and get the patch on there."

Ahsoka reached out in the force, trying to get a feel for the shape of the shard before she pulled it out. The moment she touched it in the Force, she gasped. There was something wrong with the shard. Something dark. Something... familiar. In the shard Ahsoka could feel the same manic dark energy that she had felt emanating from the Nikto, Kan'to Kree.

Ignoring the awful sensation of touching something so infused with the dark side of the Force, she enveloped the shard with her own Force and gently pulled it out. It wasn't in deep, but some blood gushed out of the wound.

"Whatever that is, it looks like it might be toxic. We should let it bleed out a little, then clean the wound before we put the bacta patch on," Jyssa said.

"It's not toxic. At least, not physically," said Ahsoka as she dropped the glittering shard onto a shelf next to the medbay bed. "Just clean it and patch it. Now that it's out of her system she should be okay."

"Not physically. Right. Is this another one of those Jedi things?"

"Yeah. Another one of those Jedi things."

Jyssa applied the bacta patch and it sealed around Mirian's shoulder. Once it was in place, she pulled the neck of Mirian's shirt back into place. "Poor girl."

Ahsoka picked up the glittering shard and held it up to the light. "You have no idea. I have no idea. I don't even know what this thing is." She inspected it closely. "It's not glass. It looks more like a piece of crystal. It almost looks like... hey, watch her while I go check on something."

"I feel like I should be indignant at being ordered around by my mechanic. But this is your ship." Jyssa patted Mirian's uninjured shoulder. "Don't worry, we've got this."

Ahsoka brushed past Arc and headed to the engine room. In the engine room Xho and ZT-47 were watching as Nat and Ylenic sat cross-legged, levitating several small tools and engine parts in a slow motion two person juggling routine.

Ahsoka watched as Ylenic pulled the floating items to himself and gently set them down on the floor. "Ahsoka, I take it Mirian is resting comfortably."

"Much more now that I took this out of her shoulder." Ahsoka leaned against the doorway and levitated the shard over to Ylenic, and the Caamasi gently took it out of the air.

"I've rarely felt this much dark side energy from something that wasn't alive..."

"It was stuck in her shoulder. It looked like it was trying to infect her. And I don't know about you, but to me it feels a lot like Kree did when we were up close. And it looks familiar. I think it might be a piece of a holocron."

"I believe you are right. This does indeed look like a piece of a holocron. A Sith holocron, I suspect." He sighed and levitated the piece back to Ahsoka. "It pains me to see that the Sith presence here on Susevfi is still causing harm, even now. Long ago there was a Sith enclave here. A Jedi by the name of Nikkos Tyris discovered the ruins and deciphered some of their teachings. It drove him, and several Jedi close to him to learn the Sith ways and attempt to become Sith themselves. The council knew of the disappearance of Tyris and several of his friends and allies. When they sensed a coming darkness here on Susevfi, they dispatched several Jedi here to investigate."

"How many Jedi could they spare with the Clone Wars going on?"

"There were three of us here in the capital of Yumfla. Mirian and her Master were in a city twenty kilometers down the coast. I am unsure as to why she is here and Master Shadaarwin is not."

"Did you have Clone Troopers with you? Her Master could be dead."

Ylenic stood up. "No. Since Tyris was once a Jedi, it was considered an internal matter. We chose to keep our investigation quiet. Perhaps that was a mistake. After all, Count Dooku was once a member of the Jedi Order as well. If you feel that Mirian will be safe here, perhaps we should head towards the Sith ruins. If Mirian and Kan'to Kree were being influenced by a Sith artifact, perhaps it will either draw them there, or at the very least we may find information that will help us find them."

"I trust Jyssa and Arc with my life."

"But not with X-ray vision," Arc said from behind her.

Ahsoka grinned over her shoulder at him, "Don't take it personally, Arc. I don't trust boys in general with X-ray vision. And Jyssa is a special case. She may not be a boy, but boy would I never ever trust her with X-ray vision."

"I've gotten to know Jyssa pretty well since you two picked me up. That's probably a good call. I just wanted to let you know that Mirian woke up. She fell back asleep almost right away, but she seemed much more relaxed, and wasn't scared at all. I think it's safe to say that whatever it was in her shoulder was affecting her mental state. Jyssa also wanted to know if you think you might have any clothes that will fit her so we can clean what she's wearing now."

"I only brought a couple changes of clothes with me, everything I have is on the Drexl. We'll have to grab something from there when we get a chance."

Ylenic said, "Thank you, Bryn. Perhaps we shouldn't leave just yet. When she wakes again, she may be able to answer some questions and help us find both the source of the shard that poisoned her, and perhaps where Kan'to Kree is right now."


	24. Chapter 24 - Excision

**Chapter 24**

_Excision_

Ahsoka meditated in the engine room of the Whipclaw. She could have been actually sleeping in her bed, either here or on the Drexl, but it had been a long day and felt the need to gather her mind. She also didn't quite feel comfortable in the main cabin of the Whipclaw yet. She needed to go through and clean out the remnants and trophies the ship's former owner had left behind. Ylenic was watching over the injured Mirian in the medbay. He would let Ahsoka know if she awoke again. The rest of the crew was on the Drexl, safely away from anyone or anything that might attract the attention of Kan'to Kree.

For now, Ahsoka let her mind wander. Reaching out through the Force around her, she could feel the city. The general feelings in the city were dampened, both literally and figuratively. The sun had gone down, and the warm waters near Yumfla had given off enough water vapor to reform as clouds, which now rained down onto the city. She could hear the raindrops tapping on the hull, the steady sound was neither a help or a hindrance to her meditation.

Somewhere out there was her quarry. Somewhere between the duties of a Jedi and the facade of a bounty hunter was where Ahsoka Tano lay. For now the two weren't at odds. The man who needed to be stopped was hurting innocent people. A madman, fueled by the dark side of the Force was out there. Ahsoka Tano needed to stop him, and Riella Masso could make a reputation for herself by catching him.

But the dark Jedi had proven slippery. The moment he realized he was outclassed, he ran. Ahsoka, and by extension Riella, needed to find a way to catch him. Her meditation was interrupted by a little voice in her head saying, "How would Skywalker handle this?"

Ahsoka wasn't quite sure if rushing in, doing the right thing in spite of her rash decisions, and then miraculously surviving it all was the right course of action. At least, not this time.

Maybe next time.

She tried to center herself, to find the kind of peace she needed to truly meditate.

_Peace is a lie, there is only passion._

Ahsoka relaxed, and felt through the Force. She did her best to become one with the ebb and flow of life.

_Through passion I gain strength._

Something felt wrong. Something was wrong. Something dark was growing here in Yumfla.

_Through strength I gain power._

That wasn't right. That couldn't be right. Ahsoka felt something wrong. Something dark. Something... in her.

_Through power I gain victory._

Not in her, in her future. In the near future.

She saw battle. Combat. She fiercely fought against a giant black shadow. A blot against the galaxy stood before her, and she fought as best she could. But it was no use. She wasn't strong enough to stand against the darkness.

_Through victory, my chains are broken._

In her vision, she saw her choice. Give in to the will of the Force and die... or give in to the dark side and lash out. Destroy the darkness that was growing in the galaxy.

But in the process she would have to give herself to that same darkness.

"No!"

It took her a moment to realize that the shout had come from herself. The darkness in her vision dissipated, but Ahsoka could still feel that something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

And in a flash, she realized what it was. "Grife," she said as she reached into her belt pouch. She pulled out a small shard of crystal. "Maybe I shouldn't meditate with you nearby."

The crystal felt dirty in her hand.

Then she realized that the feeling was getting stronger. Either the crystal was somehow growing in strength, or Kree was nearby. Ahsoka reached out with the Force and pulled her bounty hunting armored mask and her lightsabers to her hands.

A moment later she scrambled up the ladder and out of the top hatch of the Whipclaw. Rain spattered across her visor, and a moment later the visor built up a static charge that wiped it clean. She didn't know where Kree was, but he was definitely close. And she knew how to draw him out.

She held her deactivated saber in one hand, and the crystal shard in the other. While waiting for Kree to show himself, she idly tossed the crystal a few centimeters into the air. There was no response. She tossed it again, a little higher this time.

Still no response.

She activated her lightsaber, and raindrops hissed against the flattened surface of the brilliant green blade. Ahsoka tossed the crystal in the air again, and this time she swung her lightsaber at it. The sharp, repeated hiss of raindrops being turned to vapor in the arc of her swing almost hid the sound of another lightsaber igniting.

In fact, the sound of Kree's mindless animal scream was almost all Ahsoka could hear.

Ahsoka knew the attack was coming, but had no clue where. So there was only one logical direction to go. She jumped straight up, ten meters into the air. Sure enough, a huge blast of Force lightning crackled past where she had been moments before. She heard a scream and saw a cloaked figure diving from a nearby hangar onto the Whipclaw.

She reached out her hand and pulled with the Force. She felt the crystal shard come within reach just as she reached the apogee of her leap, and as she expected, she saw Kree jumping up straight towards her. She swung her saber once, hearing a loud pop as the crystal shattered in the intense energy of her saber blade. Then she braced herself as best she could with a wide grip, knowing that between her falling and Kree's anger and power, he was going to strike hard.

And he did. Ahsoka took the impact fully on her blade, and this time he didn't just give her enough momentum to spin around and strike again. This time he struck firmly enough to send her flying sideways through the air. She landed on top of a bulk freighter that was parked next to the Whipclaw and skidded across the surface of the cargo nacelle.

A moment later she felt a thump through the surface of the ship. Kan'to Kree stood on the nacelle, his face contorted in rage, and the shimmering silver blade hissing in the rain.

The static charge swiped across Ahsoka's visor again, and her vision cleared just in time to see another blade ignite behind Kree.

The green light illuminated the damp fur of Ylenic It'kla. Kree spun and charged at It'kla, only to find himself buffeted back by a powerful blast of Force energy. But he landed on his feet, and didn't lose his grip on the silver saber. Ahsoka climbed to her feet shakily. Kree screamed at Ylenic, "I am eternal! I am immortal! I am the only Sith to every defy death itself! You cannot destroy me!"

And while he was screaming, Ahsoka lunged across the cargo nacelle at him. He spun to block her attack then blasted her back with the Force, and continued through to block an immediate attack from Ylenic.

While his back was turned, Ahsoka pointed her bracer at him and pressed a button on it. Six shock darts shot out, and although he tried to twist out of the way, two of them stuck to his cloak. Electricity danced across his wet cloak, and he fell backwards, his muscles twitching. In the light of the three lightsaber blades, Ahsoka could see that he had been peppered with shards of crystal. In a grim parody of the damage she'd seen on the face of her friend Arc, half his face was bloated with infection, both from the open wounds and from whatever Sith alchemical effect the crystal had on flesh.

There was no way to save him. There was no way to remove them all and save his sanity. Ahsoka slashed down once, quickly. Kan'to Kree's pain and madness was gone in an instant, along with his life.

She kneeled down beside the fallen Nikto. It didn't matter if he was Jedi, Sith, or merely a victim. It was over for him. Ahsoka Tano, Jedi Knight, put her hand on his forehead and said, "Find peace now."

The lightsaber fell from Kree's hand, and from his other hand fell what looked like a badly cracked crystalline pyramid, with a large chunk missing from its side. A hissing, spitting, broken hologram screamed incoherent static into the night.


	25. Chapter 25 - Arrival

Previously on Star Wars: Exile's Journey

Ahsoka Tano, in her guise as bounty hunter Riella Masso, tracked down a mad Jedi on the planet Susevfi. Reports of people being hurt and killed in the capital city of Yumfla caught her eye, and she tracked down the killer.

Meeting up with another Jedi, a Caamasi named Ylenic It'kla, they hunted for a missing Jedi Padawan named Mirian Varos, and found that while the murders were done with her lightsaber, she was not the culprit.

Driven nearly mad herself, she was infected by a shard of an ancient Sith holocron. The true culprit of the attacks was a fallen Jedi named Kan'to Kree who had studied the Sith ways, and in the end Ahsoka was forced to end his life.

**Chapter 25**

_Arrival_

Mirian Varos opened her eyes. She was in an unfamiliar medbay. It was small and cramped, so it must have been a ship's medbay. To her right, a strange insectiod alien was poking tools inside the cybernetic arm of a clone.

"Where..." Mirian tried to push herself up on her arm, but a sharp pain in her palm and shoulder prevented her. "Ow. Where am I?"

"You're on the Red Drexl. She's just a freighter, but you're safe here."

"I thought... Sithspit... my head..."

"Are you all right? Do you need something for pain?"

"No, no pain. My head is just fuzzy. I don't remember how I got here."

The clone shook his head, and Mirian could see that half of his face was badly scarred and partly covered by more cybernetics. "Yeah, we're a little fuzzy on how you got here too. I mean, we dragged you into the medbay. But the last time anyone heard from you, you and your master were in Lofla, twenty kilometers south of here."

Mirian tried to sit up, pulling herself up with her uninjured arm. "I... Master Shadaarwin... we came here on a mission," she said as she nearly collapsed.

"Hang on a minute, kid. I'll help you sit up as soon as my hand is free."

The insectiod alien clicked his mandibles together, "This is very delicate work. Please do not move for the next three seconds." He continued doing whatever delicate work he was doing inside the clone's cybernetic hand, then there was a flash of light and the sound of metal fusing together. "Finished. You may move now."

The clone wiggled his metal fingers. "Thank you, Xho. I don't know if I'd trust it to contact juggle a thermal det, but it's certainly more agile than it was off the shelf."

"Medical experts and engineers don't communicate well enough. Good design from both directions. Bad implementation. Need a middleman for best results."

The clone turned and offered his flesh and blood hand to Mirian. She pulled herself up into a sitting position. "My name's Arc, by the way."

"Padawan Mirian Varos." She paused and asked, "Is Master It'kla here? I think I remember seeing him."

"Yes, he's here," a voice from the doorway said. Mirian turned to see a familiar face.

"I know you... you're Padawan Tano."

"Well, I'm glad to see that your long term memory is okay. You can call me Ahsoka. These days you don't want to use terms like Padawan. It's not safe."

Ylenic It'kla appeared behind Ahsoka in the doorway. "It is good to see you awake, child."

"Master It'kla! I'm so glad you're here. I... I think... I think Master Shadaarwin is dead. I don't remember exactly what happened, but..."

"Relax, Mirian. Let it come back to you in your own time." The Caamasi Jedi's voice soothed her almost as much as his presence did. "When you are ready to tell us what you remember, we are here."

"I remember..."

* * *

The Delta-12 Skysprite emerged from hyperspace in high orbit over Susevfi. Mirian Varos flipped a set of switches to recycle the fuel from the hyperdrive ring, and once she got a confirmation bleep from the computer, she hit the release clamp. There was a faint clang that reverberated through the ship, and Mirian announced, "Docking ring is free and in geosynchronous orbit."

"Good. The other Jedi should arrive in a few hours. Keep an open mind, and an open eye. We don't know what to expect when we get there."

"Of course, Master."

Master Tarya-Lotell Shadaarwin eased the ship away from the docking hyperdrive ring and towards the planet below. "R5, prepare the ship for reentry and landing cycle."

R5-V8 twittered in response, and the ship entered the outer edge of Susevfi's atmosphere. A curved red line on Master Shadaarwin's monitor showed the course to land in the spaceport outside of Lofla.

A few minutes later, she opened the cockpit and the two Jedi breathed the salt-tinged air of the Susevfi coast. Master Shadaarwin shook her shaggy hair free of her helmet. "We can find a hotel later. For now, I would like to get straight to work. There are several ruins outside of Lofla that have been excavated lately, and from some of the images the Jedi Council have seen, the script carved on the walls appears to be ancient Sith writing."

"That sounds like a good lead, if we're looking for workings of the dark side. How far is it, Master?"

"Not far. There should be a speeder rental kiosk somewhere here in the spaceport. Stay with R5 and finish locking down the Skysprite. I'll rent us a speeder."

After a brief wait, Mirian found herself sitting in a small speeder, her Padawan braid whipping in the wind. She looked over at her Master's short shaggy hair with some amount of jealousy. Somehow Master Shadaarwin's hair was the perfect texture to stand out enough that it never got in her eyes, even in the hundred kilometer per hour wind of an open air speeder. And yet it never tangled or matted. Neither Human nor Etti hair had those traits, but the combination of the two made for an unexpected side effect.

Mirian, on the other hand, had to tie her hair back tightly to avoid the entangling and blinding effect of the high-speed wind.

The war was far from Susevfi. For once, Mirian Varos was taking a speeder ride, feeling the wind in her hair, and there weren't battle droids firing at her. Hair tangles were the worst of her worries today.

And that made for a pretty good day.

But once the two Jedi got close to the temple, she could feel the darkness inside. This wasn't going to be a fun archeological field trip. This was going to be something else entirely.

But at least there weren't any battle droids shooting at her. She was using her Jedi reflexes to avoid taking a flying bug to the face instead of a blaster bolt. That made today a better than average day.

* * *

_Author's note: On the suggestion of a reader, I decided to add a little introduction blurb before each 'episode'. E.g., every 4 chapters. That way there's a recap at the beginning of every week. And since it's Star Wars, of course I have to do it as a centered text crawl style. :P  
_

_Also, as of last week I am officially a published author! I have a silly little Christmas themed serial running. Yes, something else to distract me from my fan fiction. C'est la guerre. It's called Saving Christmas: Slay Bells. It's an action/adventure kind of written in the style of over the top 80s action movies, and the basic plot is that it's 24 hours before Christmas, and Santa's Sleigh gets stolen. It's up to Blip 'Wiry' Skipperson and his elite team of special forces black ops Christmas elves to recover it in time._

_I'm actually recording audiobook chapters along with that one, so even though I have four chapters written, I only have one posted on the site because I haven't had time to record the second chapter yet. It's at JukePop Serials, and if you're curious you can either look it up there, or you can look at my profile and I'll put a link there. It's a little less character driven than this fic is, and a lot more goofy._

_-Tirade_


	26. Chapter 26 - Archeology

**Chapter 26**

_Archeology_

Mirian looked at the rubble. "Master, is there anything here that we could actually find?"

"I don't know, Padawan. I can sense faint traces of the dark side of the Force in this place. It is not pleasant." Master Shadaarwin raised her hand and closed her eyes. "There is life inside, but I do not sense anything intelligent. Still, be on your guard. Any being that chooses to lair inside a place strong with the dark side of the Force is unlikely to be friendly."

Master Shadaarwin weaved through chunks of ancient stone and masonry, and slipped inside an opening that Mirian hadn't even seen until her Master disappeared into it. Now that they were closer, Mirian could feel the taint of darkness that hung in the air. She hesitated, but dutifully followed her Master.

Once she was inside, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust. Master Shadaarwin was already several meters ahead, following an air pocket that was created by one wall that hadn't collapsed over time. "This way, Mirian."

"Coming, Master." Mirian followed, stumbling over bits of rubble that she couldn't see in the dark. She pulled a glow rod from her belt pocket and turned it on. Several small multi-legged creatures scuttled away from the light. "Eww. I hope we don't run into any more of those."

"Stay alert. There could be things far worse than rachnids in here."

The two threaded their way through the ruins. After several turns, they found themselves in an open cave. The two could hear the faint sound of voices talking on the other side of the cave. Master Shadaarwin stepped forward and ignited her lightsaber.

Sitting cross-legged on the other side of the cave was a green-skinned Nikto, holding a pyramid shaped holocron. He looked up, and the holocron went dark. "What are you doing here? Jedi don't belong here!"

"Master Kree, I presume. Odd that you are here, when you went missing during the Finoa offensive, several parsecs from here." Master Shadaarwin's voice betrayed no emotion. Mirian swallowed nervously, sensing the strong dark energy from across the room. Showing no fear, Tarya-Lotell Shadaarwin strode across the room, and her apprentice followed her a moment later.

"Leave now, Jedi. This is your only warning." Kree's eyes narrowed, and he slipped the holocron into a belt pouch.

Master Shadaarwin's green bladed lightsaber lit up. "I am sorry, Kree. But it is clear that something has happened to you, and you are not yourself. I will have to take you in and bring you to the Jedi council."

Kree sneered at her and raised a hand, "I gave you a chance, Jedi. If you survive this, remember that."

Mirian heard a loud squench sound from behind her, and she whirled around. "Master..."

Master Shadaarwin had been right. There were things much worse than a few little rachnids in this cave.

Behind the two Jedi was a giant rachnid, its fangs almost a meter long. Its pale, fuzzy, stubby legs twitched as it grasped the ground. Pale, sticky ichor dripped from the ceiling. Mirian spared a glance upwards and saw that the entire ceiling was coated with a sticky webbing-like substance made of dried rachnid ichor, which seemed to be emanating from the giant, bulbous, squishy abdomen that stretched out behind the rachnid's fuzzy torso.

Six milky-white eyes focused on Master Shadaarwin, and then the beast lunged. Mirian watched in horror as the sticky ichor-covered abdomen stuck to the ground for a moment before the momentum from the creature's lunge peeled it off. A loud tearing sound filled the chamber as the sticky layer around the abdomen separated, leaving a gooey portion of it on the floor. Master Shadaarwin's lightsaber struck, knocking the creature's head aside, but not penetrating the creature's skin.

"This is no natural beast!" shouted Shadaarwin as she batted at the head again with her blade.

Mirian lit her shimmering silver lightsaber and slashed at the only weak spot she could see, the creature's eyes. It flinched and one of its forelegs blocked her lightsaber. "How do we kill it?"

The foreleg shoved her back, and the creature lunged at Shadaarwin again. This time the Jedi changed tactics, and attempted to stab the blade into a soft spot between the palps that housed the rachnid's fangs. At the last moment, the creature turned its head, and once again the saber blade merely skimmed off the creature's skin.

But it had moved forward again, and now Mirian was in a position to strike its abdomen. Hoping that the abdomen would be less well armored, she slashed the silver blade at the rachnid's bloated rear end. Instead of splitting the soft abdomen open, as she had hoped, her blade merely evaporated a line of the ichor off of it.

Before she could react, the rachnid pulled the legs on its left side over and pushed off the ground with the legs on its right side. It rolled over Mirian, and she was stick against the creature's soft underside. She tried to scream for her Master to help, but found that her face was covered with ichor, and she couldn't breathe.

Stick against the disgusting, pulsing mass, she tried to fall back to her Jedi training. A Jedi acts when she is calm, at peace.

She could feel the creature moving, still lunging at and dueling with Master Shadaarwin, who Mirian couldn't see. But what she could see was the lumpy skin of the creature. And as the creature secreted more of the ichor, she could see pores opening up to release it. Pores that, on a normal sized rachnid, would have been microscopic.

Reaching into the Force, she pulled at her lightsaber. Bit by bit, it pulled free of the ichor. When the nearest pore opened up again to allow more of the ooze out, she used the Force to activate her lightsaber. The creature reared back, in silent pain, as the blade cut through its delicate innards. The creature panicked and turned as far as it could. A spray of a noxious-smelling liquid came from between its palps, and Mirian suddenly fell from the creature's side. Whatever the liquid was, it was melting the ichor.

Mirian deactivated her lightsaber and pulled it back to herself. Favoring one side, the creature scuttled backwards, desperate to get away from the two smaller beings who had hurt it. It climbed back up the wall, and scuttled into a cave opening a few meters above ground level.

"What a wonderful smell you've discovered, Padawan," said Master Shadaarwin, "I'm afraid we don't have time to clean you off properly. We need to catch up to Master Kree."

"Of course, Master. Priorities," said Mirian.

"Still, good work on finding a weak point. Especially under duress."

Despite feeling more disgusting than she'd ever felt before in her life, Mirian smiled. Compliments from her Master weren't easy to earn.

* * *

_Author's note: Yes, I absolutely had to reuse the quote from Episode IV. Sometimes a joke is right in front of you, and you just can't say no to it. :) I hope everyone was sufficiently grossed out by the giant rachnid. I tried to think of how I could make a giant spider grosser than normal. Sticky slime, near invulnerability, and a giant squishy, sticky abdomen seemed to do the job. And speaking of other creepy stuff, I just posted the second chapter and audio chapter of my serial, Saving Christmas: Slay Bells, on JukePop. Please follow the link in my profile, I could certainly use the fans and upvotes!_


	27. Chapter 27 - Footsteps

**Chapter 27**

_Footsteps_

"How could that creature's hide stop our lightsabers?" Mirian finally asked as she followed Master Shadaarwin through the tunnels.

"I'm afraid that creature was probably a remnant of ancient Sith alchemy. The Sith dabbled in the darkest of many arts, not just the Force. There are legends of monsters they created to act as slaves, guard dogs, or worse. In the old days many Jedi were killed by their creatures. Every now and then an expedition will find a Terentak, thousands of years old and still as powerful and angry as ever. I suspect that the Sith found some way to engineer these creatures to huge sizes, and imbue them with Force powers that would make their skin impenetrable to Force or saber attacks."

"Do you think there will be any more of them?"

Her Master smiled and said, "I hope not. There's little enough down here to serve as prey for such a large beast, I doubt more than one could survive. Still, we must be cautious." She pointed her glow rod down at the ground. "Footsteps in the dirt. Master Kree has come this way."

Mirian held her glow rod in her off hand, and gripped her saber tightly. Master Shadaarwin kept her light trained on the footprints as the two Jedi delved deeper and deeper into the Sith ruins.

And then she could feel it. The coldest, darkest, most seething spot in the Force was just up ahead. Just beyond a crumbling archway. And there was something alive in there.

She followed her Master into the room, and there was Kan'to Kree, holding a lightsaber in one hand and a holocron in the other.

"You should not have come down here!" shouted Kree, "This is my sanctuary! Jedi cannot survive against the might of Darth Nadir!"

Master Shadaarwin lit her green blade. "I take it you won't come quietly?"

Kree snarled and out of the hand holding the holocron came a violet blast of Force lightning that curled around Shadaarwin's blade.

"I'll take high, you take low," she said to her apprentice, and without hesitation she launched herself across the room. Immediately two more sabers ignited, one yellow and one silver. Kree deflected the Jedi's blade and sidestepped, causing her to go past him. But with Force enhanced speed, Mirian sped across the chamber, keeping low. At the same moment, the two struck. Mirian was to his left, and striking low, while Master Shadaarwin was to his right and striking high. Kree performed a lazy sideways handspring, leaping over Mirian's low blade and under Shadaarwin's high strike. He kicked out at Shadaarwin's arm as he flipped under her blade, but she managed to move it out of the way in time.

The two Jedi continued their assault, now both coming from the same direction. Keeping pace with both of them, he blocked every blow. Finally, Master Shadaarwin managed to deflect and entangle his blade with hers, leaving her apprentice room to make another low strike. Mirian aimed at his knee, but found herself buffeted back by a blast of telekinetic energy. Master Shadaarwin stepped forward, her blade still locked with the Nikto's. She managed to push his blade back, then swing directly at his chest. Kan'to Kree raised his other hand and sent a blast of Force lightning into Shadaarwin's blade, but he couldn't stop the swing. It intersected with the Sith holocron.

* * *

"And that's my last clear memory. I saw shards of it explode everywhere." Mirian hung her head. "I don't know what happened to my Master, but... I think she's dead. And I think... there were times when I didn't feel like me. I felt like something else was trying to take over. Something horrible. I could feel Kree, whatever it was already had him. And he was trying to find me, but I wasn't infected enough for him to track down."

"Well, whatever happened, I'm sure your Master put up a fight. Kree lost his lightsaber in that fight." Ahsoka handed the saber to Mirian. "It looks like it needs to be charged, too. He wore it down."

Mirian held the hilt in her hands, looking at it with wide eyes as if she'd never seen it before. "We need to find out for sure. I want to know if Master Shadaarwin is alive."

"Of course. As soon as we can we'll get a transport and head down to Lofla."

Ylenic said, "Perhaps I should take her. You have a bounty to collect as soon as the local offices are open tomorrow. And perhaps you should take the lightsaber with you as proof that this is the Jedi they were searching for."

"Right. I'll need some way of carrying him."

"Perhaps you may want to invest in a small loader droid for such a task."

"I'll look into it. This bounty's pretty high, I should be able to afford one. I can probably rent one from the spaceport to get it there in the morning. Or maybe we should make another mask and have Arc pretend to be my partner, now that he's got two working hands."

Mirian handed the lightsaber back to Ahsoka and said, "I'm not sure I need it back. It's done so much harm."

"This is a Jedi's weapon. Your weapons," said Ylenic, "I doubt that anything Kree did with it can truly taint that. Rest now, child. Recover. Tomorrow we will travel to the Sith ruins outside Lofla."

"I'll get it back to you in one piece, Mirian." Ahsoka smiled at her. Even though Mirian didn't know Ahsoka all that well, it felt like the first genuine smile from a friend that she'd had in ages.

"Thank you, Padaw... I mean, Ahsoka."

"I've got to head back to the Whipclaw to keep an eye on things there. Ylenic, will you..."

"Yes, I believe it will be best if I stay here. Please alert us if there is any relevant new. For now, however, it is late, and I think it is best if we sleep."

Arc gave a grin with the good half of his face, "Speak for yourself. I'm going to go look for a net-ball partner to try out my motor skills."

"Good luck with that. It's nearly midnight," said Ahsoka.

"What, there's no all-night net-ball clubs in Yumfla? I guess this really is the backwater."


	28. Chapter 28 - Illumination

**Chapter 28**

_Illumination_

A rather battered looking humanoid shaped droid stood at the bottom of the Whipclaw's ramp, pulling a repulsor dolly with his long arms.

"Greetings, I am BLX-5. I am looking for Madame Riella Masso."

"That's me," Ahsoka said from behind her armored mask, "I have a rather large package to deliver to the bounty office."

"Forgive me for asking, madame, but word among the other droids is that last night there was a fight on this tarmac. And one of the cleaning droids swears that he saw a lightsaber. Is this the Jedi who has been terrorizing the city the last few weeks?"

Ahsoka was taken aback, but decided that being as honest as she could within her Riella Masso bounty hunter persona would allow. "Yes. It was a former Jedi, Kan'to Kree. I followed a few clues until I found his lair, and I stole something that I knew he'd come back for. Then I set a trap for him here. Unfortunately, he was completely mad. Almost feral. I had to kill him."

The droid cocked his head and said, "An unfortunate turn, but I do thank you for making Yumfla a safer place. Where is the... package?"

The droid had an odd speech pattern, somewhat slow and he almost had a bit of a rural twang. Ahsoka said, "I'm in it for the money, but I guess it is nice to know that I'm doing something good. It's right up the ramp."

She moved aside and the droid pulled the repulsor dolly up the ramp. BLX-5 squatted down, and she could hear old, sturdy servos strain as he lifted the large box. With surprising ease, he levered the body box onto the repulsor dolly.

"Impressive. I was about to ask if you needed help."

"During my time working at the shipyards in Fondor I had high-gravity servos installed. While I am relatively versatile, lifting things is, if you'll excuse the joke, what I was made to do." BLX-5 walked down the ramp stiffly, but once he was on level ground he stopped. "Do you have ground transport, or did you wish to cross the spaceport on foot? The bounty office is on the far edge of the spaceport."

"We can walk. After that battle last night, I've got a few sore muscles that need stretching and moving."

Ahsoka kept her mask on as they walked. This was her first bounty to be delivered. For someone who might have a bounty on her own head as soon as the Empire realized their oversight, walking into a bounty office was probably going to be a little bit nerve-wracking every time.

* * *

The ride was bumpier than Mirian remembered. And windier. Her hair, despite being pulled back into a ponytail, kept somehow defying the oncoming air and whipping around her head and neck, seemingly trying to get itself caught in her mouth.

The last time she had been sitting next to a Jedi Master and driving this route, she'd still had a part of her hair pulled aside to make a Padawan braid, though.

Master It'Kla seemed to understand that she needed to prepare herself for what she was going to have to face. Other than asking for directions in a few places when the satellite tracking system in their rented speeder lost signal, he said little on the trip. Still, he was a warm and familiar presence, both in person and in the Force.

And Mirian was grateful for that.

Ylenic let her take the lead when they reached the ruins. As the two found their way through the darkness, Mirian found that she didn't mind the small scuttling rachnids nearly as much as she had the first time.

When they reached the large room where she and Master Shadaarwin had fought the gigantic rachnid, she could feel its presence. And it must have recognized her, because she heard it scuttling away through one of the smaller tunnels.

Finally, she made her way to the final room. Lying by the door of the room, she saw Master Shadaarwin's lightsaber. Part of the hilt looked burned, as if it had been singed by another lightsaber.

A few feet further in was Kan'to Kree's lightsaber, and the activation button appeared to have been torn off by a piece of crystal from the shattered holocron.

And a few feet further in were Master Shadaarwin's clothes, lying crumpled on the ground. Mirian didn't have to see it, she could feel it through the Force.

Master Tyria-Lotell Shadaarwin had become one with the Force. And in doing so, she shone a bright light in the center of this dark place. After years of reciting the mantra, Mirian Varos finally understood that there was no death, there was the Force.

Mirian kneeled down next to the place where her Master had given her life. "Thank you, Master Shadaarwin. For everything you have taught me. About the galaxy. About life. About the Force. And about myself. Everything has changed. I don't know what I'm going to do with my life now. But I do know that you helped me become who I am today. And I hope I can use that to make the galaxy a better place."

In the Jedi Temple, a funeral was a collection of every available Jedi. There were lights, and flames, and ceremonies.

Here, in this dark ruin that once housed a Sith Lord powerful enough to destroy lives thousands of years after his body decayed, there was only Mirian, a few words, and the light side of the Force holding back the darkness as best it could.

She stood and brushed the dirt off of her knees. "Let's make sure her sacrifice wasn't in vain. I want to find every shard of that crystal."

"If there were a Jedi Temple to return them to, I would take her clothing and personal effects there. Alas, there is nowhere."

"No. Leave them here. If another Jedi finds this place in a thousand years, I want him to see what Master Shadaarwin sacrificed here."

Ylenic nodded, "That seems appropriate, given the circumstances."

He held out his hand, and one by one he used the Force to pull the many shards of holocron crystal off of the ground and out of the walls. When he was done, a few ounces of Sith tainted crystal hovered above his open palm. Mirian held out a small pouch, and he dropped the crystals inside. At the very least, Mirian intended to make sure that Darth Nadir was never able to harm another living being.


	29. Chapter 29 - Backstab

Previously on Star Wars: Exile's Journey

After defeating a bounty hunter named Koros L'Larr and taking his ship for her own, Ahsoka Tano has taken on the persona of Riella Masso, bounty hunter, as a way of keeping tabs on the current hunt for Jedi on the run. She has taken up the mantle of Jedi once again, and taken in a young boy named Nat Tina as an apprentice.

An Alderaanian student at the University of Rudrig asked her to help find his missing sister, a Padawan named Mirian Varos who had gone missing several weeks prior. She followed the lead and discovered not only the missing Padawan, but a Jedi Master named Ylenic It'kla, and a mad Jedi turned Sith named Kan'to Kree.

Kree and Varos had been infected by shards from an ancient Sith holocron that was driving them mad. Mirian only had one shard in her shoulder, and Ahsoka and her friends were able to save her. But Kree had fallen to the dark side before the holocron had shattered, and he could not be saved. Ahsoka defeated him in combat, and then turned his body in for the bounty.

**Chapter 29**

_Backstab_

"Well that was surprisingly easy," said Ahsoka as she dropped the credits into her belt pouch. "I just turn in a body, show them a lightsaber, and call it a day. Thanks for the help, BLX-5."

"It was my pleasure, Mistress Masso. Would you mind if I gave you a bit of advice for next time?"

"Advice from a droid? This I have to hear."

BLX-5 started walking back towards the ship, now pulling a repulsor dolly carrying an empty crate instead of the dead body that had been on it. "Your attempt to impress the bounty office clerk into thinking that you are, in fact, a hardened bounty hunter fell rather flat. I would suggest being more straightforward and matter of fact. Claiming that you need to keep the lightsaber as a trophy was believable, but it would have been more believable if you hadn't twirled it, and then said 'A girl has to have her trophies.'"

Ahsoka looked at the old droid. "Acting advice from a droid? That's really a new one for me. Was I... over the top?"

"As far over the top as you were over your starship last night during your fight."

Ahsoka stopped dead in her tracks and grabbed BLX-5's arm. "How on Susevfi did you know what happened last night?"

"I've found that few people learn to speak binary. Which means that few people know just how chatty some maintenance and cleaning droids can be. You have little need to worry. The inorganic half of the spaceport staff is grateful that you removed the killer from this city, and have no intention of revealing your presence here."

"Why's that?"

"The arrest and bounty reports mentioned how many organic sentients the Jedi maimed and killed. Non-organics, however, were listed merely as destruction of property. Many droids found themselves at the wrong end of a lightsaber in the last few weeks."

"Huh," Ahsoka said as she let go of BLX-5's arm and continued walking. "I've spent the last couple of years doing my best to deconstruct just about every droid I came across, except for Artooie."

"Well, I for one am glad that you have decided to kick the habit."

Ahsoka shook her head. BLX-5 was certainly an odd droid. Something occurred to her, something she normally associated with clones rather than droids. But BLX-5 had far more personality than most droids. In a way, he almost reminded her of R2-D2. She asked, "Do you have a name besides BLX-5?"

"Back in the shipyards of Fondor, when I went for a year without a memory wipe, occasionally I would deal with minor system overloads. One of the repairmen there told me that I was all bolluxed up. The nickname stuck, and they would call me Bollux for short."

"That'll work," said Ahsoka.

"However, I have discovered in my travels that on certain planets, most namely those closest to the core, the name is homophonic for a slang term that refers to a certain part of male mammalian anatomy. On those planets I choose to use the name Zollux to avoid confusion and derision."

Ahsoka shook her head, "Boys are the same across the galaxy."

* * *

In the end, Ahsoka ended up spending much more than she wanted on a load lifter droid. The spaceport droid wrangler drove a hard bargain, and she wasn't willing to use the Force to try and persuade him.

But it was worth a little extra to have a droid with a bit of personality.

"Bollux, secure our cargo. We're about to break atmosphere."

"I am afraid that the only cargo we have on the ship is Master Nat."

Nat turned in his seat, "Hey! I'm not cargo, I'm crew. You're cargo!"

"In that case, boys, secure yourselves. We're about to break atmosphere."

The blue sky thinned, and one by one the stars came out and the sky turned to black. "Nat, prep the torpedo launcher. I've got a little message to send to Darth Nadir."

Nat pressed a few buttons at his console. "Got it."

Ahsoka left the spacelane and headed inward, towards Susevfi's sun. "We'll be within firing range in about two minutes."

Before lifting off from the spaceport, Ahsoka had prepared a message capsule. The broken remnants of the Sith holocron were inside of the capsule. The only way to make sure that it could never be recovered and cause harm would be to destroy it. And since there weren't any handy black holes nearby, the sun would have to do.

Jyssa commed them from the Red Drexl, "We're ready to head back to Rudrig. Mirian's long overdue for a family vacation. Comm me when you get in."

"Will do, captain."

"You do realize that you're still my mechanic. Just because you happened to find a Verpine who can make my engines purr like a newborn spukamas doesn't mean you get off that easy."

"Yeah, yeah. Whenever I don't have a bounty or a lead on a Jedi, I'll get around to fixing the hyperdrive coolant leak."

"Wait... there's a coolant leak? You didn't tell me about that!"

"What's that, Captain? You're breaking up." Ahsoka used a trick she'd learned from her former Jedi master, and rubbed a gloved hand over the microphone on the dashboard, simulating the sound of static.

"Why you little..."

Whatever creative insult Jyssa finished her sentence with was cut off by the sound of a turbolaser blast ringing through the ship.

"Shields up!" yelled Ahsoka as she jerked the steering yoke to the right. "Bollux, what's on sensors?"

"They are not broadcasting identification, but from the profile I believe they are a pair of Flarestar class attack shuttles."

A man's voice came over the com. "Koros L'Larr. When my scouts told me that your ship had been sighted here in the Susevfi system, I couldn't believe it. Did you really think that after everything you'd done, you could waltz through my territory unharmed?"

The man had a mild accent, one that Ahsoka recognized immediately.

"Oh no," said Ahsoka as she scrambled for the com channel button while desperately weaving the ship to avoid incoming fire, "I know that voice."

"My mother always told me that revenge is a dish best served when there were no authorities around to stop me. So, here we are. In deep space. Away from the shipping lanes. Just you, me, and my band of bloodthirsty pirates."

* * *

The com on the Red Drexl crackled. Jyssa yelled, "Why you little... short! You're little and short!"

Arc laughed. "Actually, she's pretty average. You're tall."

"Quiet, you. No disagreeing with the captain when she's annoyed. That's a rule. That I just made up." Jyssa squinted out of the viewscreen. "Arc... point the sensors towards Ahsoka's last location."

"Yes sir. Whoa! Two Flarestar class assault shuttles. Not broadcasting any ID. Should we give them a piece of our mind?"

"Coming about. Man the upper turret. And have our furry guest man the lower one. I wanna give them a few pieces of hot plasma. You can be the diplomatic one and shove an ion bolt up their..."

Arc didn't hear the last word over the sound of his own pounding footsteps down the corridor. He got to the cargo hold and yelled, "Ylenic, lower turret! Xho, see if the Captain needs another set of eyes and hands in the cockpit. Ahsoka's in trouble."

The deck shook with the force of the Drexl's exoburn exhaust system kicking in. The feedback momentarily confused the circuitry in Arc's prosthetic hand, and he almost accidentally let go of the ladder as he clambered up to the upper turret. The Tolos class ship was an attempt by the Corellian Engineering Corporation to build something that combined the features of the Barloz class medium freighter, with the smaller, more easily modified YT series. Jyssa had modified it for running through blockades, giving it a set of dual ion cannon turrets on the top and bottom, a set of forward facing quad lasers, a missile tube that, since she wasn't part of the military, was only loaded with chaff missiles made to confuse sensors and tractor beams, and most importantly, an exoburn exhaust system to give the ship an extra speed boost when it needed it. In addition to the energy pulsing through the ship's ion engines, an unstable negatively charged ionic gas was released between the two engines, and once it combined with the ion exhaust, it ignited. The ship couldn't sustain a burn like this without damaging the engine housing, but for short bursts it really helped make up a lot of distance.


	30. Chapter 30 - Pirates

**Chapter 30**

_Pirates_

Ahsoka weaved the Whipclaw back and forth, desperately trying to avoid incoming fire from the two saucer shaped Flarestars. She hit the retrothrusters, attempting to let the Flarestars shoot past her and get on their tails. One of the Flarestars didn't react in time, and she fired a few shots as it flew by. The other, however, stuck to the Whipclaw's tail.

"Nat, target the one behind us with the turret!" she yelled over the sound of turbolasers striking the hull.

"I can't!" he said nervously. "Their first shot took out our targeting linkage!"

"Fire manually, then! I need to get them off my tail."

Bollox pressed several buttons on the console in front of him and said, "I will attempt to keep power to the rear shields."

"Divert power from whatever you can. Grife, one torpedo could take out this Flarestar, but we've got the holocron in the tube right now." Ahsoka fired a few more shots at the Flarestar in front of her, but once again had to scissor to port to avoid incoming fire from behind.

She hit the transmit button on the com and yelled into the microphone, "Hondo, cease fire! This is not Koros L'Larr!"

"A nice try, bounty hunter. But if it were not Koros L'Larr in that ship, then how would you know who I am?" came the reply, along with several more turbolaser shots, one of which scraped the edge of the engine housing. "Come now, bounty hunter. You would hide behind the voice of a child as a shield?"

"A child?" Ahsoka said, and much to her chagrin, the annoyance in her voice caused her voice to sound a little bit more squeaky than usual. "Stang it, Hondo. This isn't Koros. You know me. You know my voice."

"I know a lot of voices. Not many of them sound like children."

Ahsoka realized that she was losing concentration on her flying, and the ship in front of her sideslipped and almost escaped from under her guns. "I am not a child! And who do you know who could take down Koros L'Larr and steal his ship?"

The voice on the radio chuckled, "I don't know anybody that crazy. Except... no... little Ahsoka, is that you?"

Ahsoka sighed. "Yes, Hondo. And I'd prefer if you didn't use my name on an open com channel."

"Of course, little one. Gentlemen, cease fire. She is not our enemy." The ship behind her stopped shooting, and she let the other one out from under her sights. "Now, switch over to ion cannons. Jedi are worth far more alive than dead."

"Son of a..." Ahsoka jerked the yoke to the right as two pairs of blue ion blasts flew through the empty space that the Whipclaw had been in a moment before. "I'm sorry I didn't personally write you a letter to tell you when it happened, but I got kicked out of the Jedi Order a year ago."

Hondo chuckled over the radio again. Ahsoka was beginning to hate that laugh. "A nice try, little Jedi. But in the last week Jedi have become a very profitable commodity in the galaxy. So much rarer now than you were before. And so much more in demand. Before, you were Generals. Now, you are prizes. You could be worth a great deal to me."

"What are you doing out this close to the Corporate Sector, anyway? I thought your territory was around Florrum!" Ahsoka couldn't think of much else to say to distract Hondo, since talking while trying to avoid incoming fire was distracting her just as much. Luckily ion bolts traveled slightly slower in space than blaster bolts did, so she had a little more time to react to her Force senses than she would have otherwise.

"My territory is wherever there is profit to be made. And right now, with the Empire taking over the core worlds, the outer rim is where the money is at. At least, the money that I can get my hands on. Please, little Ahsoka, stop struggling so much. I don't wish to cause harm to you or your ship."

"You've got a funny way of showing it!" she yelled. An ion blast struck her ship's shields, and she saw tendrils of ionic energy flashing across the cockpit. Then, amidst all the other noise, she heard a beep from the console. She spared a glance down and saw something she hadn't expected to see. The hyperdrive was powering up.

"Hold on! One of the ion blasts did something to our systems, we're about to jump!" Ahsoka shouted to the other two in the cockpit as she wrenched the controls, trying to point the ship away from the sun before the hyperdrive kicked in. She heard something patter against the aft shields, and her entire rear sensor scope fizzled into static.

Then the starlines stretched out, and then the view from the cockpit turned into a roiling blueish mass.

* * *

"Coming in hot!" yelled Jyssa over the ship's com, "Focus your fire on one at a time, we want to take these schutta out."

She pointed the ship at the Flarestar on the left, and fired the quad lasers into the aft of the ship. They splashed off of shields, doing minimal damage. But they were followed up with a pair of ion bolts from both Ylenic and Arc. One of the ship's engines went out, and it started listing to the side. As long as Ahsoka's ship was out of the line of fire, that was fine with Jyssa. She followed close on the heels of the other, firing indiscriminately. She saw the ion bolts from the lower turret continue targeting the first Flarestar, leaving it mostly powered down and drifting. The top turret fired along with her, striking the one in front of them. It pulled a barrel roll, avoiding most of both her and Arc's fire.

Arc cursed over the com system, "Kriffing feedback... sorry. New hand twitched at the wrong time."

Jyssa heard Xho's voice from behind her, "It is a learning device. It will do better next time."

"Well it can learn on its own time, Ahsoka and Nat are in danger."

The lower turret turned back towards the enemy in front and fired. One shot skimmed the shields, and the other hit on the bottom of the craft. But it wasn't enough to take it out of the fight. It continued firing on the Whipclaw.

In desperation, Jyssa launched a chaff torpedo. It sailed past the Flarestar and exploded in a cloud of small reflective fragments just behind the Whipclaw. Jyssa peeled off from behind the enemy ship, and saw the Whipclaw dart forward and disappear into hyperspace.

"What the... she just did a blind jump. Kriffing crazy Jedi." She turned to the Verpine sitting in the navigator's seat. "Xho, can you trace her trajectory?"

Xho chittered and said, "Yes. I believe that the Flarestar's sensors were blocked by the chaff cloud. I highly recommend we disable their sensors before we follow."

Jyssa nodded. "Good thinking. Ylenic, Arc, disable that ship. Now."

Four ion bolts converged on the struggling Flarestar, and it went dark.

An accented voice came over the com channel. "I don't know who you are, freighter. But I suggest you stay out of my business."

Jyssa saw a large blip on her scanner, and she targeted it. Her computer reported it as a Surronian style Corona-class starship. And her sensors picked up four more Flarestars docked onto it. "Oh boy... we might be kriffed... Xho, where does it look like Ahsoka jumped to? We might have to follow real quick."

The Corona spun closer to the Red Drexl, and Xho quickly calculated a flight plan for Jyssa. "It looks like an out of the way system, the Horuset system. The navicomputer reports only one planet. Habitable. Seven moons, two asteroid belts in the system. Possibly a good place to hide from pirates."

"I cannot imagine why Ahsoka would choose to go there," came a tinny voice from the console. The tablet that housed ZT-47 lay facedown there. "The Horuset system is the last planet a Jedi would want to go."


	31. Chapter 31 - Unknown

**Chapter 31**

_Unknown_

Xho clicked his mandibles together and said, "Course set. Two part jump. First jump aimed at another star system, to throw off pursuit. Recommend you jump now, in case the Surronian is hostile."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Jyssa said as she flipped the intership com channel open. Her voice resonated through the ship as she said, "Everybody hang on, we're gonna make a jump."

She pulled a lever, and the Red Drexl followed the Whipclaw into hyperspace. On the bridge of the pirate ship, a Weequay crewman said to Hondo, "Captain, the second ship set a course for Almania."

Hondo laughed, "Good, good. They think they can throw off our pursuit. Follow the Jedi's ship to Korriban. Sometimes I can't believe my good fortune. I may have lost my chance to get revenge on that idiot bounty hunter, but I've got a nice fat profit to make up for it."

"What about Jix and Hagle?" the crewman asked. "They're still floating out there disabled."

"Leave them. They've got enough air to last for a while. The Jedi is the most important thing right now. We've still got four fighters left."

The Surronian jumped to hyperspace, and the only ships left in close orbit around Susevfi's sun were the two disabled Flarestars.

* * *

"Bollux, get the hyperdrive cutout working! Sensor show a mass shadow coming up fast!" Ahsoka was working on trying to cut the power to the entire hyperdrive, which was a dangerous way to drop out of hyperspace. But since she didn't know what kind of mass shadow they were heading towards, it was a safer bet than letting gravity pull them out of hyperspace. She'd been in one serious ship wreck caused by a random hyperspace jump before. She didn't know if she'd be lucky enough to survive another one.

And she had Nat on the ship with her. She wasn't going to gamble with his life too.

Suddenly, the power that she'd been preparing to divert from the hyperdrive surged through the hyperdrive cutout, and the protective bubble that kept the ship in hyperspace opened gently to allow it back into real space safely, just as the engineers intended for it to do.

But the engineers of this ship did not intend for it to come out of hyperspace in the edge of an asteroid belt. A fist sized chunk of rock bounced off of the windshield, luckily leaving only a scuff mark and not a crack.

"Nat, divert all power to shields," Ahsoka yelled over the sound of pebbles ringing across the hull of the Whipclaw. She throttled back, then saw a several ton chunk of iron, nickel, and rock whirling through space right towards her position. She fired the engines at full and powered past it, just hearing a static tingle of the shield scraping the asteroid. Nat might have panicked under fire earlier, but the boy was quick.

Ahsoka maneuvered the ship around a few more larger piece of rock and found a pocket of empty space. She took a moment to look at the instrument board. "Now for the big question... where are we?"

A turbolaser blast struck one of the large asteroids that Ahsoka had just passed by, and chunks of superheated rock exploded across the clear area of space. Ahsoka hit the thrusters and spun the ship around. Through the asteroids, she could see the larger Corona-class starship hovering just outside the asteroid field, and two more Flarestar shuttles weaving through the asteroids towards her.

"We're still in trouble, that's where we are!" she yelled as she returned fire. "Nat, the turret!"

"It appears," said Bollux, "that our pursuers have a faster hyperdrive than we do."

She pushed the throttle forward and dove back into the asteroid belt. Once again, it seemed like the least risky proposition.

* * *

The Red Drexl dropped out of hyperspace, and in the distance Jyssa could see a large saucer shaped ship hovering just outside of the system's second asteroid belt. Flashes of light could be seen inside the belt.

"Grife, they beat us here. Arc, start shutting down non-essential systems. We're going dark." Jyssa flipped a few switches to shut off the ship's running lights and transponder. "Xho, find a course that sends us up above the ecliptic. I don't want to run into any asteroids, but I want to see what goes down. We can't take on that Surronian by ourselves, but we can pop in and help Ahsoka when she's out in the open."

* * *

The laser turret fired a few times, but both of the blips on Ahsoka's scope that weren't asteroids were still there.

"Just relax," she said half to herself, half to Nat. "You're a Jedi. Trust your instincts. Trust the Force."

The Whipclaw dove between two large spinning rocks, the hull meters away from both. Immediately after it passed by, the larger of the two scraped against the smaller, sending sparks and small bits of crumbled rock flying into space. The two Flarestars had to dodge around the larger rocks, losing ground to Ahsoka in the process.

Once they were around the rocks, they both opened fire again. With her eyes half closed, Ahsoka let the Force guide her movements. The Whipclaw took long, shallow curves, narrowly avoiding oncoming fire as well as heavy asteroids.

The turret fired again, and this time the shot hit a chunk of rock right in front of one of the Flarestars. It exploded, sending debris raining all over the enemy ship. In her scope, Ahsoka could see it start to fall behind. Obviously something had damaged it enough to make it either break off pursuit, or damage its flight capability.

"Good shot, kid. Keep it up, there's still one more."

Another pair of turbolaser blasts came from the port side, and Ahsoka narrowly avoided it. "Blast... where did that come from?"

"Two more Flarestars, coming from port," responded Bollux. "With your Jedi reflexes, I recommend a head to head confrontation."

"What? That's crazy." Ahsoka juked the ship a few more times, and heard the turret fire at the ship behind them. "Head to head is almost always a bad idea."

"Their position and speed indicate that they probably mapped a safe corridor through the asteroid belt. Following their trail in should lead us safely out."

Ahsoka heard a hissed noise from Nat, following the turret fire. Her scope showed that the enemy behind her was no more. "That... almost makes sense. Nat, full power to forward shields, and try to use the turret to keep them dodging. I want them more focused on avoiding incoming fire than firing at me."

She pulled the ship around to port, and all three ships opened fire. Ahsoka dodged around a large asteroid, and as she pulled back towards the ships, she snapped a quick shot off at one of the shuttles, but the shot was absorbed by the shields.

As the ships grew closer, Ahsoka found herself forced to focus entirely on dodging instead of firing back. Trusting Nat to keep them busy, she let herself feel the flow of the Force. Almost forgetting that there was a yoke in her hands, she effortlessly guided the ship around hot packets of plasma, blue bolts of ionized gas, and heavy chunks of metallic space rocks.

And then she felt a shadow in the Force. All the light was gone. There only smothering darkness. She gasped, and accidentally pushed the yoke forward. An asteroid scraped along the bottom of the ship, shorting out the fore shields and tearing a gash in the ship. Smoke trailed behind the Whipclaw as it spun out of control.


	32. Chapter 32 - Eclipse

**Chapter 32**

_Eclipse_

"Ahsoka!" Nat shook her shoulder, holding onto her seat for balance as the ship spun out of control. "Ahsoka, wake up!"

Ahsoka Tano stirred in her seat. "Wha... why are we spinning?"

"We're going to crash on that planet!"

"I told Skyguy that it was risky, but he went ahead anyway." Her eyes were unfocused.

"What are you talking about? Ahsoka, we need you. I can't land the ship like this!"

"Sure thing, Rex. I'll take the controls." Ahsoka started to get up out of the pilot's chair, but the centrifugal force pushed her back down. "Whoa... better check the inertial dampers."

She took the yoke and tried to focus.

"Hmm. That's interesting," said another voice. "You've been touched by the dark before."

"Yeah... but tha's not important now," she responded, her voice slurred. "I gotta land the ship."

She reached into the Force to find balance, and her head cleared up. She had probably gotten a minor concussion, but a good meditation should be able to clear it right up. For now, she was focused enough to deal with the problems at hand.

She flipped a few switches and reset the ship's inertial sensors. It stopped spinning, but it was still trailing smoke. The pressure inside felt a little low too. There was probably a minor air leak somewhere. She put the ship into an approach vector for the atmosphere. With a damaged hull, it wouldn't do to hit the atmosphere too fast. The ship might not be able to take the heat of reentry.

"That's right, little girl. Focus on the task at hand."

"I am focusing," she said.

"Who are you talking to?" asked BLX-5.

"I dunno. But he won' shut up while I'm tryin' to fly," she mumbled.

The ship entered the atmosphere. Whatever the planet below was, it looked like a desert world. Craggy canyons and jagged mountain ranges were the only visible features. An alarm went off on the console.

"Heat sensor. That's not good. Rex, transfer power to the coolant system."

"Okay," said Nat as he leaned over to the engineering console.

"Your lower hull armor is ripped open. You should flip the ship over. Come in upside-down until you reach a slower speed."

"Thas a good idea," Ahsoka said, and turned the yoke. The ship slowly flipped over, and now all the incoming friction was hitting the top of the ship, where there had been no major asteroid impacts. "I can' see much though. Gotta rely on insrumens."

The alarm stopped beeping, but the cockpit viewscreen was covered in red-hot air, trapped between the ship's shields and the hull.

"Okay," said Nat, "I don't know who she's talking to, but if it keeps us alive, I think I'll go with it."

As the ship slowed down, the cockpit started to clear. The ship appeared to be heading towards a long canyon.

"Um... Ahsoka... now might be a good time to flip us over and land."

"Good idea, Rex. Extend the landing gear." She slowly rolled the ship over, and flew down into the canyon. The ship set down surprisingly gently, and Ahsoka stood up. "Well, any landing you can walk away from."

"Ahsoka, you need to go into a healing meditation. You aren't in your right mind." Nat took her by the hand and guided her down the hall to her bunk. "Don't fall asleep. Heal. I'm worried about you right now."

"Sure thing, Nat," she said. "Hey... where's Rex?"

"He's not here. You need to meditate and heal. Sit down."

Ahsoka sat cross-legged on her bunk. "Right. My head hurts. Meditate."

"That's right. Focus. Clear your mind. Meditate."

She opened her eyes to respond to Nat, but he was already gone.

"Commander, it's urgent! The Seppies are in the caves."

Her eyes snapped open again. "Rex?"

"Right this way, Commander." The voice was coming from outside of her cabin. She hopped up out of her bunk and followed it. The voice spoke again, this time from the ramp, "Come on, we don't have much time!"

Ahsoka ran out. The sun was setting outside, and the rocky formations made the entire canyon look like a bizarre collection of strange, shadowy shapes.

"This way, Commander! They're setting up a defensive line, if we don't take them out now, they'll overrun our position."

"Where's Skyguy?" Ahsoka asked, her voice still slurring a little bit.

"He's guarding our flank. Come on, we don't have much time."

Ahsoka ran into the rocky opening where she heard the voice, and found herself in a cave. She lit her lightsaber and strode in. "Rex?"

"Follow this tunnel and take the second right. It should lead you there."

Ahsoka dashed forward, a little awkwardly because her balance was a little off. But she was a Jedi. She could power through anything. She passed the first turnoff to the right, and saw what looked like a room full of what looked like statues, all clustered around a glowing cone-shaped crystal that stretched from floor to ceiling.

"What on Shili is that?"

"Ignore it, Commander. We've got a job to do."

"Right. Sorry, Rex." Ahsoka started to dash forward, then stopped. "Wait... you're not Rex. Where am I? Who are you?"

The voice laughed, a nasty laugh that bubbled up from nowhere. "I am Darth Nadir, the one and only. It took you Jedi millennia, but you finally managed to almost kill me. But I will not be denied. I will be reborn anew. And you, little Jedi, will be the one to do it."

"I'll never help you do anything."

"Of course you will. Even broken apart, my mind and soul shattered into pieces, I am a Lord of the Sith. I am more powerful than any Jedi. As long as you have desires in your heart, you are mine. Desire leads to fear. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to the dark side, and you will be mine."

"I'll never join the dark side."

"Never is a very long time, child. You've been the servant of the dark side before. You will be again. That much is certain."

"I will never serve you." Ahsoka peeked back into the room she'd just passed, and saw that the crystal wasn't just glowing. It was swirling with a vortex of light inside. When she stepped in the room, the light reacted. It started churning frenetically, bouncing back and forth across the inside of the crystal.

Even through her concussed haze, Ahsoka could feel the energy inside. It wasn't normal energy. It was life. It was the Force.

It was people. Six statues clustered around the crystal, all crawling along the ground and reaching out. There were six minds inside the crystal. Six minds and souls, trapped forever.

Those weren't statues. Those were bodies, carbon frozen. Centuries of dust lay on them. The bodies inside must have long since decayed away into nothing, but whoever made this monument to eternity wanted the minds inside to see glimpses of the life they once had, and glimpses of an eternity of being one with the Force that they would never have. This was more than just wrong. This was sick.

The voice in her head laughed again. "Oh, so punishing my enemies is sick and wrong, now? I suppose I should just stand there serenely and let them kill me. Is that truly the Jedi way? A Jedi never strikes an opponent, oh, except when they defend themselves or others. Then it's all right to strike someone down. At least I didn't waste the life my enemies gave. I used it. For power. For knowledge. I used it to create something wonderful."

"You created something horrible. Get out of my head!" Ahsoka put her head in her hands and tried to push the other mind away. She could feel grasping hooks of darkness in her mind. One by one she struggled against them.

"A fine attempt, child. But ultimately futile. I, Darth Nadir, will be reborn. You will reforge my holocron for me. And you will transfer the remnants of my mind and soul into it. I will live forever."

* * *

_Important author's note: I have not been able to get as far ahead in writing Exile's Journey as I would have liked. I have a full episode, e.g. 4 chapters, written. But I will be busy writing for another project in the month of November, so I probably won't be able to write any more until the end of the month. I'd like my reader's opinions on what and how I should post chapters in November. There's a poll in my profile, please vote. I'd like to know what the readers want. :)_

_I hope everybody is enjoying this as much as I'm enjoying writing it, and I hope to get back to it as soon as I finish my NaNoWriMo novel._

_Tirade_


	33. Chapter 33 - Desire

Previously on Star Wars: Exile's Journey

After defeating a bounty hunter named Koros L'Larr and taking his ship for her own, Ahsoka Tano has taken on the persona of Riella Masso, bounty hunter, as a way of keeping tabs on the current hunt for Jedi on the run

On the planet Susevfi, she discovered that an ex-Jedi, Kan'to Kree, had fallen to the dark side and was murdering innocent people for no discernable reason.

After defeating him, Ahsoka discovered that he had been under the influence of Sith teachings, and he had been infected by shards of a broken Sith holocron that drove him mad. She gathered the pieces and left the planet, intending to shoot the pieces into Susevfi's sun.

Before she made it into firing range, her ship was attacked by the pirate Hondo Ohnaka, who had a score to settle with the bounty hunter Koros L'Larr. After discovering that the ship was now piloted by Ahsoka, he instructed his pirates to take her alive, since Jedi have become a valuable commodity in the new Imperial order.

After a struggle, Ahsoka's ship crashed on an unknown desert planet. Suffering a concussion, she was easily led astray by the remnants of the personality inside the shattered Sith holocron, and she found herself in a strange cave.

**Chapter 33**

_Desire_

Ahsoka stared at the giant crystal. The Force essence of six once living people were trapped inside of it. Even now, thousands of years later, they struggled to get out. She didn't know exactly what they could see or sense from inside there, but she did know that the monster who put them inside the crystal had carbon frozen their bodies and left them in a gruesome display in the room, all crawling on the ground and reaching desperately towards the crystal in the center of the room.

The blue glow of the crystal reminded Ahsoka of the whorls of tachyon interactions during hyperspace travel. In her current state, she felt like if she stared at it too long, she would become hypnotized.

She raised up her lightsaber. She had to destroy this thing. She had to let these poor souls be free, and become one with the Force.

"Oh, you don't want to do that. There's a lot of energy trapped inside that crystal."

"Leave me alone!"

"I'm just trying to keep you alive. After all, if you get yourself killed, I'll just have to get your little Padawan to help bring me back to life."

"Don't you dare."

The bubbling laughter echoed in her mind again. "I do what I must to survive, just like any other animal."

"I won't let you get close to him."

"And in making that decision, you have handed me victory. You have shown my your desire. Desire is the root of all things."

Ahsoka turned around the head back towards her ship. Right now the only thing she desired was a timer and some explosives, something she knew that Koros had kept onboard the Whipclaw.

"Ah yes, you Jedi." The voice sounded like it sneered when it said the word Jedi. "Always looking for peaceful resolutions to things. Is that really what you want? To destroy my work? It's lasted for thousands of years. It's a masterpiece, something that few have been capable of duplicating."

"I want peace for those souls trapped inside there." Ahsoka marched down the corridor.

"Peace is a lie. Your passion is what drives you, young one. Your desire is not yet mine to mold. But it will be."

"Nothing of mine is yours. Ever. I am a Jedi, you are just a shadow of a Sith who died a long time ago." Ahsoka stopped, confused. She could have sworn that the exit to the cave was here. Maybe her concussion was confusing her. Maybe it was just farther away than she thought. She continued walking through the long tunnel.

"Oh, you won't be able to find your way out. I've seen to that. Your mind has been taken over by the dark side before. I find it particularly easy to manipulate."

"I will find a way out, then a way back in. I will destroy your crystal, and then I will take off and shoot your holocron into the sun. You and your victims will become one with the Force. You can't stop me."

"I don't have to. I just have to... guide you."

She found herself at a four way fork. She hadn't passed this on the way in. This wasn't good.

* * *

"Uh-oh," said Nat as he looked at the scope. "The big ship is following us down! I've got to get Ahsoka."

He darted down the corridor and opened the door to Ahsoka's cabin.

It was empty.

"Oh boy. Ahsoka!" he yelled as he ran back towards the engine room. But she wasn't there either. He ran back outside to where Bollux was cleaning asteroid debris out of the hole in the ship's hull and preparing it for a patch. "Bollux, we've got trouble! The big ship is heading our way. And I don't know where Ahsoka is! She disappeared."

Bollux tilted his head and looked up at the sky. The dot of a ship could be seen in the distance, coming in quickly. "Since they are looking for Jedi, I suggest you hide your lightsaber."

"Where can I hide it?" Nat was close to panicking, his yellow-green cheeks were flushed. "Even if I hide it on the ship, they still might have scanners."

The droid handed a hydrospanner to Nat. "I cannot reach, but there are four bolts holding my chestplate in place. There is a small cavity in my abdomen to allow me to bend slightly. I should be able to hide a lightsaber there. It will scan as simply a part of my robotics. Move quickly, but carefully, Master Nat. We only have a few minutes."

Nat swallowed nervously, and started to unbolt Bollux's chestplate.

* * *

Jyssa smacked the control panel with the heel of her hand. "Blast it, there's no way to beat them to the landing site. They've got too much of a head start. Arc, you think your intrusion skills are still up to par?"

"I think so. We'll have to see. I'm not planning on leaving Ahsoka and Nat to be kidnapped by pirates. I have a few extra weapons from the Whipclaw that Ahsoka said were too big for her to handle. What still functioning gear I have is made specifically for infiltration work. Most ARCs liked being big and visible on the battlefield. I prefer the Commando style approach to things."

"He will not be alone," said Ylenic from the cockpit door. "Mirian and I have the Force. We will do whatever we can to help. But I must warn you, I sense something very dark on that planet below us."

Jyssa snorted while she set a course to follow the Surronian to an area near Ahsoka's landing site. "Great. More Jedi druk. Is it near where Ahsoka is?"

"No," he said, "it is everywhere. The entire planet. I have never felt such a strong concentration of the dark side of the Force. And if my memory serves me, there is a reason why."

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but I bet you'll tell me even if I don't. Out with it."

"The planet below us is, I believe, the planet Korriban. The burial place of many ancient Sith, and at the height of their empire, it served as their capital." Ylenic shook his head and said, "I fear that Ahsoka Tano has come in contact with dark forces. I can barely feel her through the haze."

"She's a good kid. I doubt any musty old Sith corpses are going to be able to change that." Jyssa flipped a few switches and hit the engines. "Everybody strap in. I'm going to try to follow their exhaust trail down to avoid detection. Sensor show a nice little dip in the ground just to the west of the valley she landed in. We should be out of sight from any direction except above. As long as we land after the Surronian does and lift off before it does, we should be safe there."

"Should be?" asked Arc, a little worried.

"Should be," repeated Jyssa as she guided the ship into the planet's atmosphere. "This is a freighter, it ain't exactly a stealth ship."

* * *

Ahsoka Tano stood at a crossroads, uncertain of which way to turn. Right now the only thing she desired was a way out of this mess.

And to get away from the voice in her head.

* * *

_Author's note: So far it looks like the general consensus is to post one chapter every Monday for the next few weeks. You've got until posting time tomorrow to go to my profile and vote in that poll if you really want to see the rest of it this week and you're willing to go without for the next three. :) _

_And, if anyone is curious, I finished off the second chapter of my NaNoWriMo project shortly before midnight last night. Each chapter is about 5,000 words, my last word count was just over 10,000. If I can speed up my writing, I may be able to finish the entire book before Thanksgiving. :)_

* * *

_Addendum to author's note: Okay, it looks like the poll results are in. All both of them. :) See you guys next Monday! In the meantime, I'm cranking up the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack while I write about... um... pirates. In the Caribbean. Hmm. If I wasn't planning on actually publishing this book, I could totally just change some of the names and post it in the PotC section on this site._


	34. Chapter 34 - Fear

**Chapter 34**

_Fear_

"Can't make up your mind which way to go? Of course not, Jedi have to stop to consider everything. You can't trust your senses, you can't trust the Force here. You just have to choose."

The disembodied voice was really starting to annoy Ahsoka. She wanted to stick a lightsaber in something, but unfortunately the only physical object that she knew was connected to Darth Nadir was the holocron that lay in pieces inside a message capsule back on her ship.

She stared at the three tunnels in front of her, then looked behind. Unfortunately, it looked like the voice was right. She couldn't trust her senses.

"I have a name, you know."

"I don't really care. You're long gone. You just won't admit it." Ahsoka sat down and crossed her legs. "I will find a way through your illusions. I will find a way out. I'm not afraid of you."

The voice laughed, "Oh, you will be. If not of me, than of something. I have seen your desires. Your fear will naturally follow them."

"Right now I desire"–she put extra emphasis on the word desire–"some peace and quiet so I can meditate."

She closed her eyes. There was no point in looking around if the voice in her head was going to alter her senses. In spite of the presence of the dark side, both in her head and around her, she tried to center herself, to reach the core of her own being.

"Oh, come now. If that's how you want to play this game, I can show you what you're missing out on. Oh, the fun they're having outside."

Ahsoka ignored the voice, and continued trying to center herself.

The voice sighed, "Very well. If you won't listen, then I'll just have to show you."

* * *

"We... surrender?" said Nat, questioningly. He and Bollux were surrounded by a group of Weequay pirates, all armed. The pirates parted to make way for someone who was obviously their leader. The man wore a helmet, goggles, and despite his rather shabby underclothes, a resplendent cloak covered his back and shoulders, and fell down to his knees. A few armor plates were mounted on his shoulders, and ran down the front of the open cloak. He walked up to the two, with his hands crossed behind his back.

"Well well, what do we have here? A child and a beat-up old droid?" he shook his head, "I do not think that I need to tell you why I am here, and who I am looking for."

"I don't know where Ahsoka is, honest!" said Nat, "I'm just traveling with her. She was here a few minutes ago, then she disappeared. I didn't see her leave or anything!"

"So unlike her, to leave a small child alone to stand against a group of bloodthirsty pirates." The Weequay threw his hands in the air and yelled, "My, how the mighty Jedi have fallen! To leave a defenseless child in such a situation. Disgraceful!"

He shouted to the hilltops, "I suppose I do not have to remind you what a Jedi's responsibilities are! If you do not give yourself up, I am afraid I will have to take your passenger, your droid, and your ship as compensation. I do not wish to do such a thing, but I am afraid that I must."

Hondo looked down at Nat, "Now, little boy, tell me: what is your name?"

"Nat," he said as he swallowed nervously, "Nat Vena."

"Johta, run a check. See if there is a Nat Vena on the bounty list. I do not wish to be taken by surprise. I have dealt with small Jedi before, and they can be quite troublesome."

The pirate he indicated pulled out a datapad and pressed a few buttons. "No Nat Vena here. Just a Nattin Tosruk, Nat Tina, and a Nathalia Hrung."

"Hmm. Nat Tina... that sounds like a Twi'lek name. You wouldn't happen to be using a fake name, would you?"

"No sir. I'm an orphan. Because of the Clone Wars. Ahsoka took me in. She's very kind, if you find her, please don't hurt her." Nat tried to sound as sincere as possible.

"I suppose it could be true. The Twi'lek people suffered much because of the Clone Wars. But there is a simpler way to tell. You, droid. Tell me, is this boy's real name Nat Vena, or could he possibly be Padawan Nat Tina? You must be honest with me, droids are programmed to tell the truth."

Bollux cocked his head and immediately replied, "To the best of my knowledge, his name is Nat Vena. Former Padawan Tano has informally adopted him since he is without family. As to her whereabouts, I neither saw nor heard her leave the ship. I currently have no clue as to her whereabouts."

"Interesting." Hondo paced back and forth, his hands behind his back again. "You two, tie them up. You four, ransack the ship. The rest of you, stand guard. She could attack at any moment."

He walked back towards the Surronian cruiser and said, quietly to his henchman, Johta, "Get on the com, make sure that a hidden tracking device is placed on the boy and the bot. It might just be the years of paranoia talking, but he didn't pronounce his name the way a Twi'lek who grew up on Ryloth would. And most of the Twi'leks who died in the war died on Ryloth. Also, make sure that the patrols give him a few seconds here and there to slip away. I suspect he's a Jedi Padawan on the run too, and he could lead us right to her."

"Yes sir," said Johta.

"It's a risk, but it's worth it if we get paid for two Padawans instead of just one."

* * *

Arc lay flat on the top of the chasm, peering down into it with macrobinoculars. "I see at least six on guard, plus the ones inside the ships. No heavy weapons so far, but plenty of blasters and force pikes. Nat and BLX-5 are tied up together next to the Whipclaw. Still no sign of Ahsoka. I can't imagine she would have abandoned Nat like this."

"Maybe she's got a plan," Jyssa offered. "I just wish she had her stang communicator with her."

"If she's out there, I'm sure she'll find us."

"Yeah, hopefully before the pirates do."

Another voice came from behind them, "Nat is safe for now."

"Don't sneak up on me like that," yelped Jyssa. She turned to see Ylenic crouched behind her. "I thought you were out there, scouting."

"I was. I've gotten a fairly decent lay of the land. I still can't sense Ahsoka, though. She's here, somewhere. But she is masked in the Force. The dark side is too strong here. Her light can't shine through."

"She's a bright kid. Give it time," Jyssa said wryly.

* * *

"And that's supposed to scare me?" Ahsoka asked, "Nat may be young and inexperienced, but he's smart and quick. He won't do anything stupid. And Hondo's not going to leave without me. I'm worth too much."

"Do you really think so? Hondo loves his money. He'd rather have half a sure thing than take a gamble, don't you think?"

"Hondo wants it all. If he can't have it, he'll stomp off in a huff. Just like he did on Felucia. I know him. Besides, Nat and Bollux aren't alone."

"The future is always in motion. I can show you what will happen if you continue to refuse me."

* * *

_Author's note: Thanks for the patience, everybody! Work was nuts today, and I didn't have a spare moment to update the fic in the middle of the day. So I'm doing it real quick before I head out to dinner. I just hit the 32,000 word mark last night in my NaNoWriMo novel, which means that if the quick math I just did in my head is right, I'm about 40% of the way done. That's assuming my 80,000 word estimate based on my original outline is correct._

_Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for bearing with the delay this month. :)_


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